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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B11837	A hundred sermons vpo[n] the Apocalips of Iesu Christe reueiled in dede by thangell of the Lorde: but seen or receyued and written by thapostle and Eua[n]gelist. S. Iohn: compiled by the famous and godly learned man, Henry Bullinger, chief pastor of the congregation of Zuryk. Newly set forth and allowed, according to the order appoynted in the Quenes maiesties, iniuntions. Thargument, wurthines, commoditie, and vse of this worke, thou shalt fynd in the preface: after which thou hast a most exact table to leade thee into all the princypall matters conteyned therin.; In Apocalypsim Jesu Christi. English	Bullinger, Heinrich, 1504-1575.; Daus, John.	1561 (1561)	STC 4061; ESTC S107053	618,678	759

the passion of Christ and therfore to reste now vnder the Aultar Christ For they that are pertakers with him in passion doe cōmunicate also with him in glory The aulter and bosom of Abrahā For like as the bosome of Abrahā is called a receptacle and that porte and hauon of Saluatiō into the whiche the soules of thē are receiued which had the faith of Abraham so do we vnderstande the aultar to be a place of blessednes in heauen wherin they rest which with true faith haue acknowledged Christ the aultar propiciation sanctification and satisfaction and haue moreouer in suffering offered them selues to God in Christ through patience an acceptable sacrifice to God Vnder this Aultar was gathered the first martyr Abel and after as many as haue died for religiō and shal begathered who so euer in bearing the crosse through tribulation enter with Christ into glory The saītes crye vnder the Aulter Now is also declared what they do vnder the Aultar The very martirs I saye crye not the beastes as they haue done hitherto and they crie out with a lowde voyce No man shal Imagine that the blessed soules in Heauen doe complayne be sorowfull doe accuse and be troubled These thinges are fayned to an other ende to the intent we should gather therof that God forgetteth not his that he putteth not out al reuengement that he seeth feleth and regardeth the iniuries and deathes of his seruauntes Where the vengeaunce followeth not immediately God is thought of many to slepe and to haue no respect vnto his We heare therfore that the holy Martirs crie and that with a lowde voyce He appereth to haue alluded to that same in the .4 of Genesis The voyce of thy brothers bloud crieth vnto me to witte for vengeaunce Crying sinners For the Diuines call certen sinnes criyng as those whiche are red in the Scriptures to crie vnto God as is at this present the shedyng of bloud the sinne of Sodome in the .9 of Genes the oppression of widowes and orphanes in the .22 of Exodus wages for worke deteyned Deuteron 24. and Iames the .5 How longe so euer therfore God differreth vengeaunce be it neuer so many yeres yet is not the bloud of the iuste forgotten before God S. Paule in the .12 to the Hebrewes crieth out and sayeth that the bloud of Abell speaketh In the .18 of Luke the Lord sayeth that the afflicted do crie bothe daye and nighte for deliueraunce Would God they would wayegh these thinges whose feete are swifte to shede bloud God would not in times paste be mercifull to his people for that much innocent bloud was shed emonges them by the meane of Manasses theyr kinge as appereth in the .4 boke of Kinges Therefore dere bretherne let vs consider wel at this daye what we doe and let vs not shede rashly innocent bloud Certenly the wordes are expressed of S. Iohn Whether the Saincts in heauē desire vēgeāce whiche the Martirs cried to the Lorde howe longe saye they Lord whiche arte holy and trewe c. They put God in remembraunce not as ignoraunt or inconstaunt but as knowyng and moste stedfastely mindefull of holines and trueth For in asmuche as the Lorde is holy he hateth all prophane and vncleane persones and spareth them not For as muche as he is true he maynteyneth and defendeth his chosen and punnissheth and oppresseth his enemies as he hath promised by his worde Sins therefore thou arte suche saye they O God why doest thou not iudge and auēge our bloud of them which in earth as in their kingdome exercise tiranny and oppresse euery good man Al this signifieth none other thing than that God for his owne sake whiche is holy and true will neuer forget the iniuries of his seruauntes Therefore we vnderstande these thinges to be spoken by a figure called Prosopopeia that is the fayning of a persone not that the Sainctes in Heauen do expostulate with God but that we by suche a figure might vnderstande that God hath care of Martirs because he is holy and true S. Austen in the .68 question vpon the newe Testamente Seynge the Lorde sayeth he hath taught vs to praye for our enemies what is the cause that the soules of those that are slayne crye out as doeth the bloud of Abell and require that they maye be auenged And he maketh aunswer Sainctes be not impatient that they should vrge that thing to be done now which they know shal come to passe in the time prefixed which neither can be preuented nor yet delayed but by this saying he woulde shewe howe God will auenge the bloud of his seruauntes leest bycause he semeth now so patient that wicked warre shuld be thought vnpunished which is made against the Sainctes that both he might driue a feare into them that persecute the seruauntes of God and might also exhorte the sufferers vnto patience Thus sayeth he And this in dede semeth the playnest sense of al others especially if we consider the things that follow in the lordes aūswer and it was sayed vnto them that they should rest c. Primasius Bishop of Vtica expoundyng this place of S. Iohn Sainctes not incensed with carnal vnderstāding it is not to be thought saieth he that the Sainctes are incensed with a carnall vnderstanding and stoutenes to be auenged sins we knowe that through the aboundaunce of charitie the very enemies are of thē also in this case beloued but it is euident that they prayed agaynst the kingedome of sinne and to haue ernestly desired the other thinges of that kingdom wherof we saye thy kingdome come For it is not lawful to thinke that they woulde couet any thinge agaynst the pleasure of God sins their desires depende vpon his wil c. And S. Gregory what is it sayeth he that the soules make request of reuengement but that they desire the laste daye of iudgement and the resurrection of bodies slayne Aretas noteth here also out of the commentaries of S. Andrew bishop of Cesaria moreouer the Sainctes appere hereby to wisshe for the ende of the worlde Wherfore they are commaunded patiently to abide vntill the accomplishement of their bretherne Hebr. 11. leest they should be fulfilled with out them after the holy Apostle Vēgeaūce is desired two waies Howbeit Thomas of Aquine in the exposition of the Apocalipse sheweth that vengeaunce is required of god two waies First in dede with an euil and malliciouse affectiō which the Scripture doeth vtterly represse Secondely by a Zeale of rightuousnes and after the wil of God is iudgement required agaynst them that be vncurable After he annexeth this therfore do the blessed soules require vengeaūce of their enemies albeit they intende it not chiefly bicause of a Zeale of rightuousenes and affection of godly loue they grudge as also doeth god him self at the wickednes of the persecutours who impugne God him self and seke to hinder his religion and tourment suche as worshippe him wherfore they would

haue their mallice and power at an ende Thus farre he But where as the Scripture euery where agreably witnesseth that the sainctes in heauen are free from greues affections and to liue nowe a newe life moste farre from all payne and perturbatiō and that they haue submitted their willes to the will of God whom they maye followe in al thinges approuyng all his iudgementes saiynges and doynges yea and reuerencing the same I suppose we nede not to reason more subtily hereof at this present but simply to vnderstande that by this figuratiue speache as criyng is also els where attributed to the bloud of martirs shed is signified that the bloud of the oppressed shal neuer be forgotten of God and that before him the iuste iudgement and vengeaunce is prepared to be executed in his time against the enemies and cōtemners of God but chiefly agaynst the persecutours of the worde and the murtherers of Sainctes Which thing is more fully declared by this that followeth For by the same that followeth such aūswer was made to the complaincte of Martirs What was aunswered to the martirs requiringe vengeaunce that we may vnderstand what is the state glory of sainctes in heauen which haue offered their bodies for the Testament of God and that God hath not forgottē the bloud spilte but that he wil at length requite those bloud sheders when he seeth time But where he hath reserued this time to him self when he wil rewarde the bloud suckers it is not our parte to inquire curiousely therof but rather to be in a readines that if he will that we also should suffer for the Testimony of Iesus Christ we should runne spedely and cherely through afflictions vnto glory doubting nothing but that we shall be ioyned to the blessed Martirs in heauen and that the iuste iudge in that daye wil render to al the enemies ol God the Churche and Gods worde after their demerites And albeit the time of persecution doe seme a world to the flesh yet is it here and els where in the scriptures called shorte The state of soules in heauē is moste happy But these thinges muste be sene and considered by partes First doubtles the state of soules in heauen is in al things most fortunate The which is figured by the white garmēts For the glory of the blessed is signified that are nowe in light and fele nothinge of darkenes of this garmente I haue spoken before And it is sayd expressely and white garments are geuen to euery one of them For euery soule receiueth his rewardes And the body also at th end of the world shal receiue his owne garmente S. Gregory Saintes as yet sayeth he haue the fruition only of the blesse of the soules but in th end of the world they shal receiue two stoles or garmentes for with the perfecte ioye of the soules they shall be clothed also wyth the incorruption of bodyes Hereof shall be reasoned more dilligently about th ende of the .vii Chapter where this place shal be declared more at large After it was sayde to the blessed soules 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they should rest Therfore they be altogether in quiet and fele no perturbation whiche in the .xii. Chapter shall more plainely be declared Notwythstanding that it may be referred to delay and breathinge as though he should haue sayd It was signifyed to the soules that they should yet differ and abyde For it followeth yet a lytle whyle Therfore God signifyeth that after a little tyme he wyl delyuer hys and punnishe the aduersaryes The tyme of persecutiō is short And the noting of the time semeth to be taken of the .2 Chapt. of Abacuk whiche place is also alledged of the Apostle in the .11 to the Hebrew For yet a little while for bicause he that shall come wil come and wil not tary And the iust shal liue of his faith c. In the .26 of Esaye we reade these wordes after he hath shewed the resurrection to come and the laste ende of the worlde goe therefore my people and enter into thine inner chābers and shut thy dores after thee hide thee a litle while euen for a momente till the indignation be past And likewise S. Peter called all this time of affliction vnto the iudgement a shorte time that we mighte take comforte therin .1 Peter .1 And .2 Peter .3 To these also is ioyned an other thing whiche more fully accomplissheth the time till three fellowes and bretherne were fulfilled whiche should also be slayne for the worde of God Therfore let vs no more herafter inquire when persecution shal haue an ende or whie the Lorde differreth vengeaunce and howe longe For we heare that the numbre of the electe muste be accomplisshed But where that time is knowen to God alone lette not vs be curiouse but lette vs thinke of suche thinges as concerne our dewetie that if the case so require we maye also die strongly for the Testament of our Lorde God that we maye be associated to our bretherne and our fellowes and haue the fruition of the blessed sight of our redemer The numbre shal be accomplisshed in the ende of the world at the last iudgement Hitherto therfore shal last the persecution but than assuredly wil the Lord requite it as also the Prophet Malachie hath wittenessed in the .3 and .4 chapter Hereof we learne also What we should iudge of the saintes ī heauē what we shoulde iudge of the holy Martirs in Heauen and blessed soules the same that we learne here of Gods worde Bretherne and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellowe seruauntes as also Aungelles in the .19 and .22 of the Apocalipse they are expressely called not Lordes and founders For although the wordes muste be vnderstande of vs yet liuyng yet is there a relation For if we be theyr bretherne and fellowe seruauntes they be verely our bretherne also and Gods seruauntes with vs and euen fellowe seruauntes Now though we graunt that they praye in Heauen what I praye you praye they here but that God would auenge and punnisshe and what doe they obteyne As we reade that Christe sayed to his mother requiryng wine at the mariage womā what haue I to do with thee my houre is not yet comen so likewise are the Martirs here cōmaunded to tary abide the time of God appoincted The which we beleue that the Sainctes doe What can we saye than of their intercession and praying for sinners vnto God there is one only mediatour geuen euen the Lorde Christe let vs goe vnto him in al our necessities he alone shal suffice al and in all These thinges are spoken hitherto of the persecutions of al times so that in the meane time they haue ministred most comfortable consolations to all that suffer persecution to the ende of the worlde and haue likewise cutte of curiouse questions and sette vs saue and whole in the will of God wherein we only restynge maye knowe that the same is best

perish they shall ryse agayne to the iudgement whole Aretas also Bishop of Cesaria perceiued this and sayed he reciteth these things to the intent he might declare what the finall and vniuersal resurrection shall be For where many beleuyng not that the same shall be do say that it is by no meanes possible to be in those bodies which haue ben long corrupted and broughte to that poincte that they be not at all this sermon nowe correcting this sayeth Lyke as the bodies when they were not began to be not by a certen chaūce or of themselues but of the four elements namely of Water Fyre Ayre and Earth So also beyng reasonably returned agayne into the same may be of the same cōposed againe c. And for a further declaratiō he addeth agayne Death and hel gaue vp them c. and death and hell gaue vp those which were in them dead For he vnderstādeth by death any kynd of death as though he shulde say death it selfe restoreth to the Iudge iudgement whom soeuer after what sort soeuer he hath dispatched Death therfore is fayned to be as it were a person which holdeth the dead in himselfe or in a prison And hel hath yet but a fewe bodies for some we read to haue gone down to hell quicke but the soules of the wicked The same retourne to their bodies that the whole man may be iudged body and soule Others by hell after the Hebrewe phrase vnderstande a sepulture or graue Agayne is repeted that the whole man shal be iudged body and soule after euery mannes workes Thus much hitheto of the resurrectiō of the dead Of euerlasting damnation wherof in our bokes els wher we haue treated more at large In the laste place followith of euerlastinge damnation and who be properly condemned And Hell sayeth he and death are cast in to the lake of fyre Whereof hath ben spoken before And Hell here signifieth not the place of pūnishmēt but those that are inhabiters of Helle to witte whose soules are yet deteined in hel or appointed thither Death also signifieth those that are deade in sinne and they which from the spirituall or tēporall death go straight way to death euerlasting Wherevpon is immediately annexed This is the second death by the which verely they that are dead to Christe are adicted to perpetual fyre and that lyue to Antichrist and the world Others expounde these thinges hereof that after the iudgemēt the Saincts shal nother be buried any more nor die Which S. Paule affirmeth also out of Osee in the firste to the Corinth the .15 chap. Aretas and Primasius make with vs. For Aretas saieth and he calleth death and hel those that haue cōmitted thinges worthie of punnishment as fulfilling the numbre of the second death And Primasius by these names sayeth he he signifieth the Deuil because he is authour of death and paynes in Hell and also the whole fellowship of Deuylles For this is the same that he spake more playnelye before by the way of preuēting and the Deuil which deceaued them was caste in to the lake of fyre and brimstone And that which he added there more obscurely sayeng and the beaste the false prophet here more playnely So much Primasius And who knoweth not that the membres muste followe the head all vngodly the Deuyll the head of all vngodlynes Whych ar not writtē in the boke of lyfe And moste euidētly he expresseth who properly at the iudgement are addicte to fyre euerlasting they that are nother written nor sound in the boke of lyfe Therefore shall the only faythfull in Christe in whome they are predestinated vnto lyfe euerlasting shall be saued All others of what religion so euer they be or what so euer kynd of lyfe they haue lyued be it neuer so strayte shall perish Others referre these words to such as are lefte a lyue at that daye For we beleue that the son of God shall iudge both the quicke and the dead Doubtles whether they be lyuing or whether they be dead certain it is that no man shall be saued in any other but in the fayth of Iesu Christe all the resydewe shall be damned And this is the finall end of the good and euill To Christe Iesu iudge of all and redemer of the faythfull be prayse and glory for euermore Amen ¶ That the worlde shall be renewed the Saincts glorified and made blessed and what that felicitie shall be and howe certeyne The XCj. Sermon AND I sawe a newe Heauen and a newe Earth The .21 chapter For the first Heauen and the first Earth were vanished away there was no more Sea AND I Ihon sawe that holy Citie newe Hierusalem come downe from God oute of Heauen prepared as a bryde garnished for her husband And I heard a great voice from the seat sayeng beholde the Tabernacle of God is with men and he wil dwel with them AND they shal be his people and God himselfe shall be with them and shal be their God And God shal wipe awai al teares from their eyes And there shall be no more death nother sorrowe nother shal ther be any more payne For the ould thinges are gone And he that sat vpon the seat saide behold I make al things newe And he saied vnto me wryte for these wordes are faythfull and true And he sayed vnto me it is done I admonished you aboute the begynning of the .15 The order chap. of this boke that the fifte parte of this worke began at the .15 chap. and treated of the iudgementes of God righteous and iuste And forasmuch as the iudgementes of God are of two sortes in this that he requyteth the euyll according to their wickednes and rewardeth the good with rewards I sayed howe this place consisted of two parts For first I sayed that S. Ihon most plentifully treated of torments to be inflicted to Antichrist and all vngodly secondly of rewardes especially in the end of the world to be imployde vpon al sainctes For ofte times haue we heard in this boke that the soules seperated from the body are immediatly after the corporall death taken vp in to lyfe euerlaking but that the felicitie of al most complete chaūceth to the faithfull in the ende of the worlde what time the bodies now raised againe receiue the rewards of glory euerlasting And this place is treated through oute al the .21 chap. beginning of the .22 cha And lyke as in the former parte he hath set hel in a maner wyde opē shewed the euerlasting torments as it were to be sene presently so in this later part he vnlocketh after a fort or openeth heauen it selfe that with the eyes of faith we shulde se what hope and glory abydeth for Sainctes And with all is most clerely expoūded the article of our faith ¶ I beleue lyfe euerlasting I beleue lyfe auerlasting And agayne for the more perspecuitie he declareth these things by a visiō Which others

these thinges for a declaration only but for confirmation also For by the oracles of the prophetes the faithful are comforted whose oracles sins they haue neuer failed in any thing nother shall they in the ende disceyue in such things as they had prophecied concernyng the last iudgement And againe we see how great is thautoritie of the auncient scripture and that the vse of it is excellēt in the church euangelicall wherin we see both Christ and his Apostles to confirme all theyr saiynges with prophetical scriptures and also to illumine set forth and declare or demonstrate The testimonies of the prophetes concernyng the last iudgement of the rewarde and punnishmēt of the godly and vngodly of the abolishyng of Antichrist of death and of al corruption are in the .110 Psalme in the .24.26.27 and .46 also in the .7.11 and .12 of Daniel in the .14 of Zacharie .3 and .4 of Malachie and also els where Thapostle hath cited Osee .1 Corinth 15. Therfore let vs lift vp our heades bretherne let vs watch and pray for because our redemption draweth nere Deliuer vs Christ from al euil Amen ¶ S. Iohn deuoureth the booke receyued at the Aungelles hande and prophecieth agayne to the gentiles nations and Kinges The .xlv. Sermon ANd the voice which I hearde frō Heauen spake vnto me agayne and sayed goe and take the little boke which is open in the hande of the Angel which standeth vpō the sea and vpon the earth and I wente vnto the Angel and saied vnto him geue me the litle boke And he sayed vnto me take it and eate it vp it shal make thy bealy bitter but it shal be in thy mouth as swete as hony And I toke the little boke out of the hande of the angel did eate it vp it was in my mouth as swete as hony as sone as I had eaten it my bealy was bitter And he sayed vnto me thou must prophecie againe vnto the heithē and tongues people and to many Kinges This is the .iii. comfort which in this .x. chap. is cōteined The apostolical doctrine is restored against Antichrist For vnder the persone of S. Iohn is shewed here that thapostolical euangelicall doctrine must be restored in the laste times before the iudgemēt against Antichrist Mahomet And he might briefly haue sayed The apostolital doctrine as it was preached of Iohn shal florish again but he had rather expresse the same by a goodly vision at the last to adde a plaine briefe expositiō of the visiō Which is thou must preach againe c. And those things al expositour do expoūde agreably Iohn preacheth agayne first in dede of the persone of Iohn which vnder the Emperour Nerua retourned into Asia from exile by the space of fiue yeres or ther about againe preached the gospel For he liued til the .3 or .4 yere of the reigne of themperour Traiane Secondly of al preachers before the laste iudgement indewed with the spirite and doctrine of S. Iohn and constantly professing Christ against Antichrist Primasius expounding this place the certaine meaning saieth he is directed to S. Iohn whiche must yet beyng deliuered from exile not only bring this reuelation to the knowledge of Christes church but also preach more depely the Gospell to people and nations to tongues and many kinges notwithstanding no man doubteth but that this voice agreeth also to the whole Churche which neuer ought to cease from preachyng c. Thus saieth he The ordinary glose expoundeth these wordes although this be vnderstande of the very person of S. Iohn yet euen herein is vnderstāde that the lord wil haue his church likewise instructed and taught by other preachers also This apperteineth to the consolatiō of the faithful which shal liue in the dayes of Antichrist the residewe Thomas of Aquine also In S. Iohn him self sayeth he other preachers are vnderstande whome the lord in the time of Antichrist will haue to preache instauntly to great small So much sayeth Thomas Before the iudgement cōmeth Enoch agaīst Antichrist Aretas Bisshop of Cesaria an expositour of this boke reciteth of this place of S. Iohn that the opinion of the cōmon people was that S. Iohn with Enoch and Elie shuld come againe into the world before the iudgemēt to wit corporally ernestly and constantly to preache against Antichrist The self same doeth Aretas repete with a more plentiful expositiō where in the .11 chapt He expoundeth the wordes of Iohn concernyng the two witnesses c. Certes where in the .44 of Ecclesi it is writtē that Enoch was trāslated that he might teache the heythen many haue expounded it as though he should corporally retourne that he might teach the gentiles against Antichrist where by the very translation made in times past he teacheth rather the gentiles that there is an other life prepared for the seruaūtes of God that the same is also dewe for the bodies sins that Enoch was translated both in body soule against the opiniō of Epicure and the madde world supposing none other life to remaine after this that the bodies do putrefie and neuer to rise agayne This Enoch semeth to come spiritually to that laste age for that the lorde him self prophecied that a like thing should come vnto it as chaunced before the deluge or flud of Noe. For like as many than beyng carelesse contemned the iudgementes of God nother feared they any perill or hoped for any better life so cometh it to passe also in the last age in the which Enoch constantly preacheth by them which establissh and maineteyne eternall life and the resurrection of bodies agaynst the Epicures Before the iudgement cōmeth Helias agaīst Antichrist Helias in the mounte Thabor appered in glory with our sauiour Christ vnto three chosen Apostles neyther is it to be thought that about the ende of the world he must be thruste out of the heauenly palace and agayne be subiecte to corruption and obiected to the cruell handes of Antichristians which might teare him in peces For like as in the time of our sauiour Christ Helias in vertu and spirite I meane S. Iohn baptiste went before Christ the Lord so also before the iudgement Helias shal preache in them againe which indued with the spirite and vertue of Helias shal cal awaye the mindes of al men from the worshippyng of creatures to the adoration of the eternal and only God Helias cried out howe longe do ye halte one bothe sides yf the Lord be God followe him yf Baal be God followe him And nowe shal the Helianes crie 3. of Kings 18. yf Christ be the perfection of the faythful what nede is there of mans inuentions and constitutions to worke a perfectiō Yf Christ be our iustification satisfaction purificatiō our only mediatour and redemer wherfore are these thinges attributed to mans merites whie are sainctes accōpted intercessours in heauen whie is saluation ascribed to many other stinking things

heauen or whether they be holden with a slepe and loke for the resurrectiō of the bodies to the intent they might than awake and together with their bodies enter into heauen vnto all the which things the celestial oracle aunsweryng forth with sayeth he that is by by cometh vnto soules that same felicitie In the latin copies this place is poincted thus blessed are th● dead which dye in the lorde Forthwith nowe sayeth the spirite that they maye reste from their labours In like maner readeth the Spanish or Complutēsian copie But Aretas and the Greke copies and also the exampler of Paris is thus poincted that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be the ende of the sentence as Erasmus noteth After followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is yee verely certēly sayeth the spirite The sense is therfore that the faithfull beyng dead shal streight wayes immediately atchieue saluation For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word S. Iohn vseth signifieth from the very instaunt from that houre immediately incōtinētly This suffereth no space betwixte but expresseth that which we are wonte to note by the dutch phrase beyng admonisshed therfore by a diuine oracle and confirmed by a writte brought from heauen let vs al be assured that the soules of al faithfull do flitte from the bodily death into life euerlasting These thinges are confirmed and made playne also by other places of Scriptures innumerable I wil chouse out only a certen fewe and those also the testimonies of our sauiour whiche is the light of the worlde and the worde of life In the .3 chapter of S. Iohn he sayeth expressely that the faythfull are so deliuered frō death by his crosse as in times paste by the sight of the brasen Serpent the Israelites were deliuered from the deadly sting of venemouse poison And playne it is that they were deliuered incontinently and most fully In the .5 of Iohn the same sayeth he hath passed from death to life Let this place be waied dilligently and it shal appere the same alone to satisfie in this matter In the .6 of Iohn he sayeth openly and I will reyse him in the laste daye But he reyseth not the bodies only at the laste iudgemente but in euery mans laste daye that is in the death of euery one he preserueth the soules that they should not perish or be tormented c. We haue in the gospel examples moste clere to witte of Lazarus the beggar which was by and by after his death caried vp of thaungelles into the bosome of Abraham and of the thiefe whiche hearde of the lord this daye shalt thou be with me in Paradise and of Stephen saiyng Lord Iesus receyue my spirite but especially of our Sauiour saiyng on the crosse father into thy handes I commende my spirite c. By these are quite ouerthrowen what thinges so euer the monkisshe and Antichristiane doctrine hath buylded of purgatory of trētalles and of the miserable state of soules in an other world Whereof they made a moste shamefull gayne They are also confuted which beleue that soules be mortall moreouer that soules slepe in another world Where they cā not so muche as here in this infirmitie slepe Therefore you wil saie it is madnes to thinke that soules slepe beyng quitte of the burthen of the body But cōcernyng the maner of the blessednes of Sainctes they reste from their labours Blessednes reste frō al labours Saluation therfore is a moste ioyeful tranquillitie Awaye go at ones diseases sickenesses griefes affections sorrowe famine thirste colde briefly all thinges that vexe or trouble men Rest and tranquillitie ioye and blesse come in place And sins the dead reste from theyr labours who can beleue that they be vexed with tormentes but leeste any man should neuer so little doubte herof he annereth a confirmation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yee or certenly verely sayeth the spirite the dead shal be quiet from al their griefes Let no mā therfore doubte Theyr workes follow them And he addeth an other thing that the workes of sainctes followe thē that is to saie after that the sainctes be departed hence than are they rewarded in another world if they haue done any thing wel if they haue suffered harde thinges For there is a rewarde prepared for vertues The which the sainctes do hope for and receyue without boasting of their owne deserte and not in contēpte of the merite of Christ For they acknoweledge that God in his sainctes crowneth his owne giftes And this is spoken of the rewarde of workes for the consolatiō of them which suffer many things in this world So sayed the lord in the Gospell your rewarde is plentifull in heauen And the Apostle affirmeth euery where that rewardes are prepared for them that are crucified here with Christ And here let vs marke dilligently that these thinges are spoken also of the spirite of Christe vnder the religion of an othe For the worlde dispiseth religiouse persones suche as suffer for religiō and obiecteth that they lose their labour and coste Cōtrarywise the spirite by an othe auoucheth that rewarde is prepared for vertue Followe them Lette vs marke also this that is sayed theyr workes and not other mens also followe them and are not by others sent after them Let no man therefore disceaue him selfe let no man thinke that after his death there should be sente to him into purgatory by soule priestes a fardell of other mens merites Those are not good workes which ar done by priestes freres besides and against Gods worde but prouocations of Gods wrath And be they not in the gospel shut out of the kingdome of God which runne to others to bye them oyle The Scripture in an other place Lette vs doe good whilest we haue time the time wil come that no man can worke Let vs watch therfore and of faith do good workes in dede ¶ The Iudgement of the Lorde is described vnder the paraboles of haruest and vintage The .lxvi. Sermon ANd I loked and beholde a white clowde and vpon the clowde one sittyng like vnto the Sonne of man hauing on his head a golden crowne and in his hande a sharpe sickle And an other Aungell came out of the Temple criyng with a lowde voyce to him that sat on the clowde Thruste in the sickle and reape for the corne of the Earth is ripe And he that sate on the clowde thruste in his sickle on the Earth and the Earth was reaped And an other Aungell came out of the Temple whiche is in Heauen hauyng also a sharpe sickle And an other Angell came out from the Aultar whiche had power ouer fire and cried with a lowde voyce vnto him that had the sharpe sickle and sayde thruste in thy sharpe sickle and gather the clusters of the Earth for hyr grapes are rype And the Angell thruste in his sickle on the earth and cutte downe the grapes of the vineyarde of the Earth and caste them into the greate wine fatte of the

whilest many haue ben chosen and euery one of them wil be the vicar of Christ and so teare al that ecclesiasticall body of theirs with Schismes There rise vp agaynst these preachers erneste vehement Wycliffe Husse Hierome of Prage and diuerse others What is done at this day hath ben now these 30. yeres and more agaynst superstitions and idolatrie agaynst the Pope and al his clergie the Papistes themselues crie out and al partes of the world can testifie Therfore is the Deuill lowsed a little season The Lord Iesus treade him vnder our fete shortely ¶ What those thousande yeres shall be and of the certayne felicitie of soules after the death corporall and of the firste resurrection and seconde death The .lxxxviij. Sermon ANd I sawe seates and they that sate vpon thē and the iudgement was geuen vnto them and I saw the soules of them that were beheaded for the witnesse of Iesu and for the word of God which had not worshipped the beaste nother his Image nother had taken his marke vpon their foreheades or in their hādes and they liued and raigned with Christ a thousande yeare but the other of the dead men liued not agayne vntill the thousande yeres were finisshed This is the first resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath parte in the first resurrection On suche hath the seconde death no power but they shal be the priestes of God and of Christe and shal raigne with him a thousande yeres By these S. Iohn declareth him selfe Here is declared what those thousande yeres shall be expoundyng what those thousande yeres shal be Not suche doubtles as very many emongs whom are accompted also the Millenaries or Chiliastes do Imagine with themselues in the whiche they saye there should be tranquillitie vpō earth and in the which yeres the sainctes here in Earth shal raigne corporally with Christ in moste exquisite pleasures and ioyes For S. Iohn himselfe confuteth this opinion whilest he sheweth how the sainctes should be beheaded of the beaste and of his Image and that the others which remayne in death should not liue agayne or receyue the gospel of Christ It is manifest therefore that the beaste his Image shal be in those thousandes yeres It is euident that the Gospell of Christe shall by those thousande yeres so shine that Sathan shoulde be so strayte tied in chaynes that neuerthelesse all should not receyue the gospell nother shuld there be quiet tranquillitie but that the Sainctes for Christes veritie should suffer persecution of the beaste and that many shuld not beleue the gospel but rather withstande the same and perisshe Yet that the Deuill in the meane time shall not haue so great power as he hath obteyned sins the thousande yeres were finisshed nother that the gospel should in those thousande yeres be so darkened as it was after corrupted and depraued And he toucheth with all certen opinions righte notable and necessarie and openeth the same to witte what should be the state of them which eyther are killed for Christ or reiecte Antichrist verely for that their soules do not slepe til the iudgemēt but liue with Christ in heauen He treateth moreouer of the first resurrection and seconde death Thus vnto them that maruaile where the soules of the dead shal become and what they shal do immediately after the corporal death he aunswereth and so much as is requisite to know declareth The soules of thē that be beheaded Therefore S. Iohn seeth seates and those that sitte on them And who be those that sitte he addeth by an exposition and sayeth and the soules of them that are beheaded For by an exposition it is taken as though you should saye they that sat on the Heauenly seates were the soules of them that are beheaded Soules are not beheaded but bodies the soules remayne in their state and life Wherefore he sayeth the soules of them whose bodies were beheaded or slayne And here lette vs note that S. Iohn speaketh not of the bodies reassumpted chaūged or reysed againe at the last iudgement but of the soules deliuered from the bodies of the martirs For he speaketh of soules lowsed frō the bodies before the Iudgement accordynge as euery one in his time liueth here in this worlde and is called from hence by death For Aretas also Bishop of Cesarea expoundeth this of the soules of Martirs yet thinketh he not neuerthelesse that no man should be saued vnlesse he die by the tirauntes sworde For he addeth this moreouer or verely he nameth to be beheaded tropically which haue mortified their membres that are on Earth Hitherto he And we also haue shewed before that first and chiefly the holy martirs are rewarded with eternal life secondely all they that haue honoured God truely and haue done penaunce and crucified their flesh with al the concupiscences thereof Beheaded for Christ And he sayeth expressely that the sainctes were beheaded not for thefte murder and mischiefe as also Saincte Peter teacheth 1. Peter 4. But for the worde of God and testimony of Iesu Christ The word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the very sonne of God our Sauiour and the testimony is that holesome gospell and the very preachyng and professyng of the same lyke as by the conference of Scriptures we haue declared before They are rekened moreouer emonges the Sainctes whiche haue not worshipped the beaste c. And suche are the Martirs beheaded or slayne for that they haue worshipped God but the beast and his Image would they not worship Howbeit al are not slaine that reiecte Antichrist and therfore particularly as a peculiar membre he rehersed thē also But what it is to worshippe the beaste and his Image and to receyue his marke c. I haue declared before at large in the .13 chapt Nowe lette vs see what their state is that shede their bloud for Christ and abhorre Antichrist with all his inchaūtmentes they liued sayeth he Of the state of soules after death before the iudgemēt to witte by fayth in this presente worlde As S. Paule sayde also I liue not I nowe but Christe liueth in me And of that same life followeth life euerlastyng in an other worlde Wherefore S. Iohn hath annexed and they raigned with Christe a thousande yeres to witte all that whole processe of time Not for that they raigned not liued with Christe afterwarde but for that their soules hitherto or to the iudgement haue not slept but haue liued rather in Heauen a blessed life The whiche also from the beginnyng he declareth by an other notation For he seeth a seate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set and the soules sitting in them And by a figuratiue speache he signifieth that certen seates and honourable places are prepared in heauē for the blessed soules as also the Lorde him self sayeth in the gospel In my fathers house are many mansions and nowe I goe to prepare you a place He calleth the seates thrones alludyng to the royall Trones of

kinges But of these celestial seates we must conceaue greater diuine and spiritual matters They sitte in thē not for that they doe nothing els but sitte on a cusshion but they raygne triumphe rest liue and haue fruitiō of the comforte ioye and glory euerlasting This I saye is the maner of the soules and spirites to sitte He addeth moreouer howe to those soules was geuen iudgement verely for that they ar exempted from iudgement and come not into iudgement euen as our sauiour sayeth but haue passed frō death to life It is also declared in an other place in what sense the saincts are sayed to sitte vpon the seates and iudge the world where it is manifeste in dede that all the iudgement of God is geuē to the sonne It is euident therfore by this vnfallible place of scripture that the soules of saincts slepe not after the death of the body vntill the laste iudgement but to liue in Heauen with Christe But at the iudgemente they shall retourne to their bodies reysed agayne and together with their bodies shal be receyued into blessed seates And this is the state of the faythfull From this hope lette vs neuer suffer ourselues to be withdrawen In my Decades I haue discoursed more at large of the soules separated from their bodies and haue shewed that they do not slepe A towle errour of Iohn the 22. pope And here I can not refrayne but must nedes set forth and recite that whiche D. Iohn Funceius a learned man dilligent and one that hath red much sheweth in the .10 booke of his Chronologie vnder the yere of our Lord .1332 in these wordes aboute this time the moste holy father Pope Iohn the .22 of that name felle into this heresie which also he professed opēly and taught that the soules sawe not God before the laste daye For so had his father taught him deceaued by the visions of Tantalus which were cōmonly caried abroade in writyng And Pope Iohn sent two preachers to Paris to witte a couple of Freres one of the order of preachers an other Minorite whiche might professe his errour there But one Thomas a preacher of Englande resisted the Pope stoutely whome the Pope committed to pryson And the Kinge of Fraūce called a Synode in his palace in the foreste Vitinian where all that were assembled subscribed agaynst the Pope Than the kinge sent Ambassadours to the Pope exhortyng him to recante his errour and that he would deliuer Thomas out of prison Which inlarged the prisonier and also as it is sayde following the admonitiōs of his frendes at the houre of death repented So much Funccius It is a shame therefore for some which at this day in so great light of the gospel dare renewe that moste folishe errour affirmyng that soules separated from their bodies lie snoring I know not in what dormitorie or dortour nother to fele any thing till at the daye of Iudgement they be ioyned agayne to their bodies and rife agayne The remnaunt of the dead liued not againe S. Iohn addeth and the remnaunt of the dead liued not agayne til the thousande yeres were accomplished Not that they liued afterwarde but that they reuiued neuer at all As the Scripture speaketh in an other place Michol Dauid his wise remayned barren vntill the daye of her death not that she had childe after her death But whom doeth he meane by the rēnaunt of the dead surely all we that descende of Adam are dead As S. Paul right wel declareth in the .5 chapt to the Romanes But we haue hearde how some through faith haue receyued Christe and so beyng quickened haue shed their bloud for Christ and would not worshippe the beast nor his Image Now is added to this membre but the remnaunt of the dead whiche are nother regenerated through fayth nor would bestowe their life for Christe but had rather worship the beast and his Image these I saye for their vnbeliefe liued not For without faith there is no trewe life in this worlde A double life double death We speake nothing here of the vital or naturall life And we saye that life is double or of two sortes to witte the one spiritual which is of faith and of the sprete of God and of Christ whiche is by fayth receyued and liueth in the hartes of his and his life in him For the Lorde him selfe sayeth he that eateth me he shal liue also for me Thother life is euerlasting to witte of an other world in the whiche we shal see God as he is and shall be as he is liuyng in God and with God for euermore Cōtrariwise death is of two sortes spiritual wherby wauntyng Christe and his sprete and voide of fayth we liue in sinne The Apostle speakyng of this death sayeth that a widdowe liuyng wauntonly beyng a liue is dead And the Lord also to the disciple that wold retourne home and burie his parētes sayeth suffer the dead to burie their dead There is also a death euerlastyng that is euerlastyng wretchednes and miserie whiche followeth the spiritual Yet see what we haue sayde of double death in the .3 chapt of this boke in expoundyng the Epistle to them of Sardis Wherefore S. Iohn here signifieth that there shall be many in these thousande yeres which shuld not receyue the gospel with a liuely faith and therfore should remayne in death as the Lorde sayde in the .8 of Iohn Therfore they erre shamefully which suppose that al nations in the whole vniuersal world shal come ones to an vnitie of fayth and most assured peace in this life And S. Iohn himself agayne expoundyng himself sayeth This is that firste resurrection Whiche I praye you by the which menne receyue Christ by the true fayth Of the firste resurrectiō and the seconde and rise from sinne in the newnes of life Of this thapostle speaketh muche in the .6 to the Romanes The same to the Ephes out of Esaye awake sayeth he that slepeth and rise from the dead christ shal shine vnto thee Therfore be they not pertakers of the first resurrection so many as nother acknowledge their sinnes nor be regenerated nother are quickened by fayth in Christ nor rise againe with Christ in the newnes of life The seconde resurrection is that vniuersall resurrection of al flesh wherein shall all menne arrise in dede but with vnlike state for the faithfull rise vnto life euerlastyng the vnfaythfull to death euerlastyng Whiche the Lord him selfe also hath repeted out of the .12 chapt of Daniel in Iohn the .5 chapt Theffecte of the first resurrectiō And he sheweth by occasion and after an Apostolicke maner a threfolde fruicte or effecte of the first resurrection First sayeth he blessed and holy is he which is pertaker of the first resurrection He is bleste sayeth he happy and heyre of celestiall and eternall life Holy that is to saye purified sanctified and iustified For fayth in Christe doeth sanctifie and make blessed Than in such

as in this boke I haue cōmaunded thee being nothing careful for the successe therof let me alone with that execute thou thoffice of preachyng I wil bryng to passe that thy faithfull preachyng shal not be vayne And let them alone if thou see certen that will be altogether filthie and perish in their filthines seyng they contemne al thy faythful labour For thou haste done thy duetie and arte blameles and they perishe through their owne fault Wherfore I wil nother haue thee nor yet no other to be ouer careful what time you see many contemnyng the puretie of Gods word had rather wallowe in filthines And we reade els where also Math. 24. 2. Corin. 2. that the Gospell is preached to many for their condemnation and the sauour of the gospel to be swete vnto some vnto saluatiō and to others an intollerable stēche vnto perdition A like place in a maner is in the .2 chapt of Ezechiel where we reade that the Lorde sayde to the Prophet thou sonne of man I sende thee to the childrē of Israel to a people rebelliouse which haue rebelled agaynst me they and their fathers haue dealte traytorously with me vntil this daye They be childrē of an harde fauour and of a frowarde harte I sende thee vnto them and thou shalt tell them thus sayeth the Lord God whether they will heare or not heare for it is a rebelliouse house that they may knowe yet howe there hath ben a Prophete emongs them And thou sonne of man feare thē not nother be thou affraide of their wordes for they be contentiouse and prickyng like thornes and thy dwellyng is with Scorpions But therfore shalt thou not be affrayde of thē thou shalt speake my words vnto them whether they wil heare them or no. Howbeit we must here take hede God commaundeth not that the wicked shoulde walke still in their wickednes that we vnderstāde not that God cōmaundeth that the vngodly shuld procede to be more vngodly where thangel sayeth he that is vnrightuouse let him be vnrightuouse stil c. For it semeth in maner to be such a saying as that same is in the gospell that thou doest doe it more spedely For he commaundeth him to doe that thing which he knew he would do After the same sorte here also that he knewe the wicked would do he sayeth they shal do nother willeth he that their doynges shuld trouble Iohn the faythfull preacher seyng there shal be also many good whiche shal also applie themselues vnto rightuousenes We are wonte also to saye with a muche like phrase yf it will no otherwise be we muste be content Not that we bidde him that perissheth to perishe but that so we reproche to him his madnes signifie that he perissheth through his owne fault willingly and wittingly Aretas It is no exhortation sayeth he but rather a rebukyng of euery one vnto the whiche study he applieth him selfe And Thomas of Aquine The sense is sayeth he he that hurteth lette him hurte stil That is he will hurte by doyng other euilles that the Angel be vnderstande to haue sayde these thinges in propheciyng not in wisshing c. And so the meanyng were the wicked contēning the prophecie shall continewe to be wicked the godly agayne shall growe in the holy study of rightuousnes Which sense truely semeth moste playnest of al. Nother differ they muche from these that are red in the .12 of Daniel by these wordes go Daniel sayeth the Angel and searche not ouer curiousely the instaunt of the laste time for the sayinges are closed and sealed vntill the laste time Very many shall be purified and made white and caste newe But the wicked shal doe wickedly and al vngodly shal not vnderstande But the learned shal teach From these thinges swarue nothyng at al the wordes of the Apostle ● Timo. 3. speakyng and propheciyng of the later times all that will liue godly in Christe Iesus shall suffer persecution for rightuousnes Notwithstandyng euill menne and deceauers growe worse and worse whilest they both leade others into errour and erre themselues Therefore seyng the later age of this worlde shal be such let vs which are called to this function procede constantly to auaunce set forth and beate in the very worde of God and reuelation of Iesu Christ vnto al men regardyng nothing what the worlde and worldly men speake agaynst it And ful elegantly he setteth two sortes of men against two others the vnrightuouse agaynst the rightuouse The vnrightuous● filthy are set against the righteuous and holy and filthie to holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayeth he he that doeth euill let him do euil or he that is vnrightuous let him be vnrightuous or he that hurteth by persecutīg the godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him hurt stil or furthermore Agaynst this he setteth he that is rightuous let him be more rightuous let him procede further grow more more in al godlines go beyōde himself in rightuousnes both of faith and workes For by rightuousenes of faith we are iustified by the rightuousnes of workes we are declared to be rightuouse And thei that be rightuouse not only hurte no man but also profit do good to al. Contrarywise the vnrightuous which waunt true faith waūt light walke therfore in darkenes doe the workes of darkenes persecuting both the rightuouse rightuousnes molestyng al mē And that there should be such men in the later dayes the lord hath also prophecied in the .24 chap. of the gospel after Matthewe An other kinde of men is of vncleane polluted filthie and vile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He that is filthie sayeth he lette him be filthie stille And the interpretours of the Greke tunge admonisshe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that filthines which we gather with our nailes endes And he signified vncleane persones in body soule Idolaters fornicatours gluttons and suche like Agaynste whome he hath placed the holy pure and cleane that is to saye purified by faith and appliyng thēselues busily to sanctification Therfore like as the filthie do more and more wallowe themselues in the mire and araye and defile thēselues to vilely so the godly doe more and more applie themselues dayly to cleanes and holines of life The lorde Iesus iustifie and sanctifie vs for euermore ¶ He gathereth suche thinges as he hath taught of the laste Iudgement and of the rewardes of the godly and of the tormentes of the wicked The .xcix. Sermon AND beholde I come shortely and my rewarde is with me to geue euery man accordyng as his dedes shal be I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and th ende the first and the laste Blessed are they that kepe his commaundementes that their power maye be in the tree of life And maye enter in through the gates into the citie For without shall be dogges inchaunters and whoremongers and murtherers and idolaters who so euerloueth maketh lesinges

was cruelly rent in peaces and troden vnder foote And that for no other cause then for that she woulde not worship the beaste that is that she wold not receyue the superstions and heathen rites of the Romane Empire I meane the false Gods and idolatrie of the Heathen And for that she worshipped one God alone through Chryst and cleaued to him seruid him after his Gospell Here therfore are excepted Constance Constantine Gracian Theodose and other godly and christen princes or Emperours which be not rekened vnder the deuelish beast For an Empire or kingdom of it selfe as S Paule sayeth is of God wherfore yf good men rule and geue not ouer themselues to be ruled of the Deuill they shall verely appertaine to the body of holy church and not to the abominable bodi of the beast In the meane time whilest that olde Rome wold not seriously repēt and tourne to Chryst forsaking theyr false gods and superstitions at the last it was condemned of Chryst by the law of like penaltie For with the same measure that the Romanes met to other nations with the selfe same did other nations measure agayne to Rome Wherfore the Persians Hunnes Frenchemē Alemans west Gothians Vādalles and East Gothians invaded thempire rent the whole Empire in pieces And at the last beseged Rome it self brake in to it toke it spoyled sacked burnt destroyed it And so at the length the Lord Iesus by iust iudgement reuenged the bloud of his seruauntes And Rome lay and yet lyeth in ruine and shall neuer be repared to the aūcient beautie And it behoueth the ruine of it to remayne in token of the veritie and reuengment of Christ Iesus that euen therof al godly may gather the God wyll be most true in thother promeses of Christ also as yet not fulfilled Moreouer the Romane Empire westward laye neglecte without an Emperoure aboue thre hundreth and twentie yeares from Augustulus whom Odacer a Germane oppressed til Charles the great king of Fraunce And in these times of desolation that is of thempire oppressed and extinguished in the west The Bisshop of Rome began by little and little to gather to him no smal power and possessions by the authorytie which he toke vpō him vnder the pretence of Chryst and the Apostles Peter and Paule tyll such time as he began to reygne also The falle of tholde Empire is the rysyng of a new But tholde Popes his predecessours wer not Princes in the Churche ruling vnder pretence of Religion but were ministers of the churche simple pastours and poore And Saint Paule prophecied that of the ruine of the Empire and destruction of the citie Antichrist shulde spryng vp For he sayd only this holdyng now or only thys let that now deteyneth tyll it come to passe that it be taken a waye and then shall that wicked be reuayled He signifye● therfore that Antichrist shuld not reygne com nor appere before tha● olde Romane empire were taken away For this being ouerthrowē that the same See of Rome shulde be erected For Tertullian who lyued a thousand and three huddreth yeres past in hys boke of the resurrection of the fleshe Who sayeth he shall be taken out of the way but the state of Rome whose departing being dispersed in to ten kings shall bryng in Antichrist And. S. Hierom in the .xi. question to Algasia The Romane Empire sayth he which now possesseth al natyons depart and shal be taken away and then shal Antichrist come the welspryng of iniquitie The same authours by Babylon in this boke of S. Iohn The two horned beast vnderstand Roome And Iohn hym selfe in this boke sheweth that the seuen headed and mighty olde empire of Rome being taken away an other beaste shal aryse and that with two hornes that is to witte suche a Prynce whyche shall chalenge to hymselfe a double rule or kingdome fulnes I say of power aswell in thynges spirituall as temporall And this same doth the whole worlde at thys daye acknowledge to be the Byshop of Rome decked with his triple crowne vndoubtedly of the three hornes which accordyng to the prophecie of Daniell Daniel .vii. eyther brought lowe or toke away this base contemned horne and Armed with two keyes signifieng hym to be king and Byshop the most myghty Monarke in matters spiritual temporall Christes vicar in earthe hauyng full power in Heauen and in earth He hym selfe in tymes past caused men to set vp the Image of the beast that is to set vp a new empire after the Image and the Imitation of the olde Romane Empire Whych thing after it was begon in Charles the great a right noble prince and furthermore auaūced and commen from the kings of Fraunce to the Germans which in dede were stoute Godly and worthye Prynces The Byshop of Rome was not ashamed in straunge wise to vexe trouble excomunicate depose and to substitute others in theyr place to styre vp wars in many Realmes at ones and set them together by the eares so long till those kynges did frame themselues after hys wyll and appetyte and wolde fall downe to kisse hys fete And he hym selfe at the length toke vpō him thempire publishing his decrees to the whole world boasted hymselfe to be the Monarche or soule ruler of the world who myght at hys pleasure bothe depose kinges and set them vp in kyngdomes Finally that he was supreme iudg in earth whych may iudg al men but he hym selfe may in nowyse be iudged of any man Therfore lyke as in tholde empire we sequestred from the cōmunion of the beastes all good men which were or liued vnder thempire so in this new also we do alwayes except the graue and witty the good godly men and al religious people which mixed among them not only abyde styll in Chryst but also eyther abhorre and comtemne the beast or to theyr power fight against him The Characte of the beaste Wherby they come not in the accompt of the beast And this two horned beast marketh his worshippers with a Characte And those that refuse thys characte he excommunicateth out of al mens company so that it is lawful for them neither to by nor sel Yea more he condemneth them for hereticks schismaticks for damned and lost creatures If thou confesse thy self now to be a Christian and professe with a syncere and loyall hart the belefe or crede of the Apostles one holy church of Christ and of al saincts and dost not aboue all thinges confesse the Pope to be Chrystes vicar in earth with the fulnes of power and the Romish churche which is the mother of all churches and can not erre thou shalte seme as yet to haue confessed nothyng but shalt be sayed rather to be suspected of heresy and therfore to be more straytely examined This thing can not be dissembled for it is knowen to all men in the whole world But to thintent we shuld not erre in a matter so nedefull to be

out with worldly furniture 510. is the great Citie 510. is Sodome and Aegypte 327. is daungerous to be spok against 321. is no trew churche 209. shall fall 451 Roring of a Lyon figured preaching 288 Root of Dauid 162 Root of a trie nurs of it compared vnto Chryst 690 Rypenes to the sickle 466 Ryot of Rome 551 S Sabboth chaunged into sunday 29 Sacrament externall markes of christians 422 Sacrifices of Christians 169. is thanks geuing 237 Sacrifice signe of Christ 382 Sacrifice propitiatory for quik dead 170 Saint of saints 111 Saints giue power to God and take it not to them selues 154. theyr knoledge in heuen 479. what they do in heuen 670. 143. 474. what is theyr state 230. are no greater then men wherfore not to be sworne by 293. they haue no administracion of thinges 158. nor rewl ouer the elements c. 486. are no intercessors 238. do not punish the wiked 555. theyr humility in heauen 153. they are briethern and felo seruāts 203 are not to be wourshiped 571. 573. 394. nor praid vnto 170. theyr examples may we folo safely 169 Saintes fall 56. how they desyr vengeaunce 199. they shal be renewed and glorified 631. are neuer separated frō their head 579 Sak of hear 207 Sakcloth morning apparel 316 Saluaciō ascribed to whom 225. of God thrugh Christ 227. where it is to be soght 299. whens it cums 229. perfyt how 361. what it is 225. is of mear grace 633. cums to vs friely 639. is certein and seuer 566. 457. that streght after death 460. shall not be geuen to all 456. 454. but to the faithfull only 628 Saluation of thapostles what 19 Sand figure of swift ruin 367 Saracens came out of Spain 272 Sardin ston 142 Sardis head city of Lydia 102 Sardis churchez infirmity 103 Sathanas an aduersary 360 Sathanas cast out how 595. loused 598. c. 608 Satisfaction trew 57 Satisfaction of our own deuysing 210 Saued be ther sum of all naciōs 225. Saued ar many at point of death 224 Schisme obiected to the protestaunts answered 542 Scourgz of Gods wrath 191 Scorpions nature 256 Sclaūderz against the godly 66 Sclaunder punished 556 Scripturs is Gods word 568. sealed signi authenticall and shut vp 289. an authentik 49 theyr authoritie 567. 30. certeintie 674. sufficiencie 673. that without councelles 689. ar agreable with thēselues 86 are perfit and sufficient to saluacion 98. theyr phrase 45. the reading of thē restreined causeth c. 215. they are swiet and better 302. that they are vnperfit is first ground of poprie 390. are not obscure 45. doutful vncertain c. to whō 308. broght in doubt by the Pope 390. Sea of Rome chair of pestilens 396 Sea of Rome inuaded by the deuel 412 Sea glassy 147 Sea shal be no mor. 631 Sea figure of the world 244. 473 Seals wherto they serue 157 Seal first opened 182 Seal second 185 Seal third opened 188 Seal fourt opened 190 Seal fift opened 193 Seal of the liuing God is Christ 218 Sealing 288. vsed for ij endes 679 Seat described 148 Seats celestiall 603 Seat of Antichrist where 508. 618. of the Deuell where 75 Seat of the beast 489. of Christ and Peter 490 Second death 70 Securitie from Antichrist none whyls the world lasteth 221 Sedicions and theyr causes 206 Seducer 360 Seing of God is chief felicitye 671 Selling of all things in the church 308. 309 Septicollis Roma 517 Septimus seuerus 194 Seruant an aunciēt title of gods wourshipers 16 Seruetus renewed the heresy of Arrius 168 Seruetus vrged 163 Seruetans heresy 42 Serpentold 359 Seuenth number 19. frequent in thapocalyps 11. sig perfectiō and fulnes 165. 472 Seuen formed spirit 103 Seuen fold spirit of God 145 Seuen heads hils kings c. 370 371. c. Seuen spirits is holy ghost 21 Seuerus heretik 268 Shap of God is ther none 141 Shauing popish 261 Ship of S. Peter 396 Sibylla of thoriginal of antichrist 436 Sickle sharp 466 Sied of God and of the woman 366 Sight restored 132 Signes for thynges signifyed 382 Signes look miracles Signes wherwith men are sealed 219 Siknesses 191 Silk is the iustification of saints 580 Simonie of the Pope 492 Simony 130. 131 Sinnes of saints 571 Sinners shal be punished of God and not only Papistes Mahometans c. 277 Single lyf 443 Sitting in the throne 141 Sitting in a throne sign c. 156 Sitting sign gouernement 148 Sitting in glory how Christe geueth and geueth not 137 Slain ghostly 317 Sleeping of souls 460 Smoke figur of the wrath of god 253. of Gods presens 479. c. Smoke presumeth fyre 560 Sodom and Egypt 327 Song new sign 171 Song of all creatures 150 Song of victory 360 Sorcery 280 Sorcerers and their kinds 644 Souls and Aungel differ 486 Soul from death of the body 34 Souls state after deth befor iudgement 603 Souls state after this lyfe 457. they sliep not 460. 225. 604 Souls seperated from the body immortal 196. where they remain 197. in bles 201 Spewing out of newters 127 Spirit seuen formed 103 Spirit how men are in 140 Spirituall vnderstanding figured by a mount 648 Spiritually of the Pope described 259 Spous of Christ 563 Square fygure of constancye 655 Standing sign ministring 240 Star of the morning compared to Christ 691 Stars fall from heauen 208 Stars figure preachers Bish 250. 351 State of saints what 230 State of lyfe euerlasting 648 Ston whyt what it meaneth 84 Story of Rome 525. c Stryf in churchs 52 Subiects of Antichryste who 421 Submissiō vnto god in all things 150. 151. 153 Suffering of vngodlines is punishable 90 Sun of perdicion 265 Suns of the Pope are all kings 419 Sun of God must be beleued vpō 449 Sun of man is Christ 34 Sun coequall with the Father 179 Sun token of Christ 349 Sun waping dark 207 Sune third parte darkned 248 Sun passeth the mone and popes kings 417 Sunday how it oght to be obserued 30 Sunday in stead of the Sabath 29 Supper for souls c. 582 Supper of the lamb 568 Supping with God 136 Supremacie 409. 410 Supremacie forbodden to ministers 386. c. Surfitting c. 82 Surrēder of the popes power 411 Swearing of Christ 290 Sword sign power to hurt 185 Sword of the Iudge 580 Sword two edged 38. out of Christes mouth 73 Swordes both in the power of the church 404 Swords ij of the Pope 389 Sylens tokē of attentiuenes 235 Syluester the ij Pope foloweth the Deuel 412 Synagoge of Sathan 115 Sines receyue the names of thinges 45 Sion mount figure of Christes kingdum 440 T Tables of the law both are to be regarded 277 Tail figure of a fals prophet 274 351 Tartarians receiue Mahomets religion 270 Tau letter sign the law 220 Temples vse 660 Temple of God is heuen 120 Temple of God for secrets of god 345 Temple for church of God 305 Temptacions grieuous 282 Temptacō of the godly hath his defens

chiefly of Christ secondly of our whole faith redemption The third Sermon IOhn to the seuen cōgregatiōs Asia Grace be with you pea● from him whiche is and whic● was whiche is to come and 〈◊〉 the seuen spirites which are pr●sent before his throne And frō Iesus Chri●● which is a faithful witnes and first begot● of the dead And Lord ouer the kinges of t● earth Vnto hym that loued vs and wassh● vs from sinnes in his own bloud And ma● vs kynges and priestes vnto God his fathe● be glory and dominion for euermore Ame● Behold he cometh with cloudes And al ey● shal se him And thei also which pearsed hi● al kinredes of the earth shal wayle ouer him Euen so Amē I am Alpha Omega the beginning thending saith the Lord almight● which is which was which is to come The beginning or preface of the w●rke Another pece of the first part of this boke conteineth t● beginning or preface wherin is the Apostles salutation 〈◊〉 the whiche he discribeth first the whole mistery of Christ ●●condly of our faith redemption For so were the Apostles wont in the beginning of their writinges to comprise a brief some of salutation Which thing in Paules Epistles is euery where to be sene By the same description he getteth the beneuolence and attentiuenes of al men The Apostles salutation or greting is nothing els What is the Apostles salutation but a blessing Blessing is an old accustomed order by the whiche the Patriarkes wished of God to their children al maner of good thinges both of body soul Which verely in Genesis is described at large And also the high priest had cōmaundement geuen to blesse the people As we reade in the sixt of Nūbres especially he commaundeth to put his name vpon the people Therfore it is a supersticion to say God verely from whome euery good gifte descendeth frō aboue blesseth that is geueth good thinges but ministers or men wishe only And the Lord in dede in the lawe promiseth that he will graūt those thinges to the people whiche the high priestes shoulde wishe them Therfore nother wordes nor shauen crownes but the truth power of God geue the giftes We ought not therfore to doubt but that God wil graūt to vs also thapostolical blessing that being reconciled accepted of God we might haue peace And first S. Ihō repeteth his name left we shuld any thing doubt of thautour Iohn interpretour of Christ towardes the congregations whō we see Christ to haue vsed as scribe interpretour vnto al cōgregatiōs But he repeteth not himself to be that seruaūt of god witnesse or Apostle of Iesu Christ It sufficed to haue heard that at the first beginnīg Therfore he teacheth thē modestie humilitie also which haue obteined great giftes Afterward he signifieth to whō he wryteth to whō this boke apperteineth to the seuen churches of Asia the names wherof he will vtter shortly after And Aretas bishop of Cesaria by the .vii. churches saith he by the .vii. nūbre he signified the multitude of churches that be in al places So also Primasius bish of Vtica in Affrick expoūdeth the .vii. nūber Therfor this salutatiō this boke the whole doctrine of Iesu Christ writtē by s Ihō To whom this booke apperteineth apperteineth to the whole vniuersal church of Christ throughout al the world in all times ages Wherupō it belōgeth to all vs also as many as be of vs in the church of Christ For albeit thepistles be intitled to the Romains Galath yet followeth it not therfore that they be not ours And he wryteth expressely to the churches of Asia not to t● churches of Hierusalem or Iewery that he might so shew● that the kingdome of Christ is comen also already to the g●tiles And as God from the beginning chose Israell in whi●he myght set forth a perfit example of the church and cōm●wealth so frō the beginning of the new Testamēt he chose thos● seuen churches of Asia which he might set forth to the wh●● Christen world But in case Rome had ben set in the first pla● amongest the churches as Ephesus is good God ho● much wold the Romish sort make of it for the estabishing● their supremacie The forme of the Apostles bessing And the maner of the Apostles saluting wysheth gran● peace Grace is the fauour of the deitie and the reconc●ment wherby God the father for Christ his sake is made● one with vs our sinnes pardoned we adopted for his chi●dren Therof arriseth the peace and tranquillitie of mynd● and the desire of concorde with all men And here he sheweth aboundantly who geueth the churc● his blessing that is to witte grace reconcilement pea● God and God thre in persons the father the sonne and th● holy ghost one God in essence But here he discerneth th● persones very well From him that is to witte the fathe● And from the seuē spirites that is from the holy ghost And fro● Iesu Christ this is the diuersitie of persons And the signification of the vnitie is when after the proprieties of persons d●clared The holy gost is placed in the middes he addeth I am Alpha omega c. And that the ho● ghost is set here in the middes it disordereth not the miste● of the Trinitie but appeareth to be an argument that he 〈◊〉 the spirite as well of the father as of the sonne and that h● procedeth from both As it is also proued by the wordes 〈◊〉 our lord the xiiii.xv and .xvi. of Iohn Here is also describe● the whole holsome mistery first of Christ than of the catholike faith and of our redemptiō so that herein you may find● the chiefest articles of the Apostles crede haue here a mos● goodly descriptiō of Christ our Lord. Hereof al mē shall iudg● how truly some men say The father whiche is which was c. that this boke contrary to the ●●stome of thapostles maketh litle mentiō of Christ of faith The father as fountain original of whom the son is ingendred is first described for that it is he whiche is which was and which is to come Those wordes toke Iohn out of Moyses in the .iii. and .xxxiiii. chap. of Exod. out of many testimonies of Esay And he saith nothing but that God the father is an eternall ensence which cōsisteth by and of it self and is and geueth life to all and in all preserueth the same And that this essence is suche that it hath bene always with out beginning For this is it that he ioyneth to being or existing was He addeth and he that shall come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which shal be and shal remaine euen to the ende and to euerlastingnes without end The Grekes deriue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of running for that conning and running he medleth with all matters is euery where present bringing help to the godly or

in thys worlde to be sene as is profitable 1 Iohn 2 and as our infirmitie may perceiue But this same is not litle or nothing but great and large and moste full of spirituall pleasure I meane if we beholde these misteries of God with a faithfull eye and mynde desyrous of Godly matters And doubtles they be thynges certayn and true that here are reuealed vnto vs. For they be reuealed by the very sonne of God Let vs not wysh than to se more or desyre greater thinges than these are But take pleasure in those which Christ hath graunted vs. And let vs knowe for certentie that a wonderful benefite of God is geuen vs in this vision For who would not couet to se Christ in glory sitting on the ryght hand of the father Who desyreth not to knowe what our Sauiour doth in heauen And home being in heauē is neuertheles present with his church in earth But this sacred and holy Image instructeth in all these poinctes all the faithfull of Christe moste fully Howebeit this Image of Christ is not to be set forth with colours synce that colours can not atteine to the maiestie therof but with the ecclesiasticall doctrine whiche hath the promesse of the spirite of Christe And is therfore more euident and only mete for the true expressing therof Let vs also prynt the same Image not vpon any dead table with colours that wyll peryshe and fade but in our hartes through the liuely spirite of God whiche may also kepe it in our myndes neuer to be ●wipt out And such thinges as are spoken in the seconde and third chap. Of this boke are deriued of this description● Christ that the maiestie of the thing might inuite vs to a s●●gular diligence The matter is very playne An aungell represēteth Christ First we are taught who it is whose Image is to vs ex●●bited Not the sonne of man him selfe in his own substaun●● but lyke the sonne of man The sonne of man after the phr● of the Gospell is called Christ hym selfe very God and m● Here he shewed not hym selfe to be sene of Iohn in his ou● substaunce but in the fourme of an Aungell that represent● Christ Whiche thyng is oftener then once founde in th● boke We shal therfore referre all these thinges vnto Chris● not to the Aungell whiche is the minister of Christ in th● mistery And we shall see Christ in his owne substaun●● what tyme our base body shall flitte from hence and bey● reysed from the dead shall be glorified In the meane ty● the soull from the death of the body tyll it ryse agayne sh● clearely haue the fruition of the sight of Christ Wherein 〈◊〉 I sayd before shall be the chief ioye and felicitie We sh● nowe therfore see Christ as it were in a glasse and so muc● as shall suffice vs. The Lorde open to vs the eyes of o●● mynde Where Christ is abiding He telleth moreouer where he sawe Christ in the midd● of seuen candelstickes By and by we shall perceiue that 〈◊〉 the candelstickes must be vnderstande the churches Chri●● is than in the middes of the churche He sitteth verely on● ryght hand of the father and after the proprietie of this ●●mane body he is but in one place and in no mo As S. A●gustin declareth aboundauntly in the .lvii. Epistle to Dor●nus Yet for as muche as he is also very God he is lykew●●● in the myddes of the churche as he promised in the Gosp●● Whersoeuer two or three be gathered in my name Mat. 18.28 the● am in the myddes of them And agayne behold I am w●●● you vnto the worldes ende Therfore by his power diui●● Christ remayneth and worketh in the churche present a● not absent Leaue therfore to inquire what Christ doth 〈◊〉 the ryght hand of his father whether he sitte continually And he is verely in the myddes of the churches fyxed to 〈◊〉 place but shewyng hym selfe indifferently to all egall as helpefull For he neyther accepteth persones nor slepe● He is not paynted he is not Idle nothyng regardyng matters of the churche But is chiefly and only attentiue to the saluation of the same Suche a one he promysed him selfe to be in the .14.15 and .16 of Iohn And seyng Christ is in the myddes of the churche what Vicar moreouer shall he haue Shall he haue that ennemy whiche is directly against hym Christ hath no vicar 2 Tessa 2. For a Vicar is in steade of one absent But Christ is in the middell of the churche present not absent In the text followyng Christ is described moste plentifully many thynges are ascribed vnto him And is declared in what sort Christ is in the mids of the church And first indede is shewed what garment he hath on To wit both priestly princely By the which thing is figured what maner of one Christ is in heauen in earth To wit bishop and king intercessour mediatour sacrifice a moste perfit sanctification iustification a redemer and deliuerer of the faithful to his father euermore working the saluation of his faithfull As S. Paul teacheth Roma 8. Hebr. 7. Poderes Poderes is found amōgst the apparell of Aaron and it is a priestly garment Whereof S. Hierome writeth to Fabiola of the priestly garmēt The second vesture of linnen is a coate downe to the fote of double launde Which Iosephus calleth Bissina And it is called in Hebrew ketheneth in Greke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This cleaueth iust to the body and is so narrowe and strayte sleued that there is no wryncle at al in the garment and came downe to the legges This was verely whyte and cleane Girdel or a belte For the Lorde Christ is an vndefiled Priest Hebre. 7. Neyther weareth he agayne a foule vesture as he did Zachar. 3. Nor a purple as in the .19 of Iohn But a bright one as he that hath obteyned a name aboue all names But his gyrdell or belte is worne of Souldiours and triumphaunt persones And it signifieth in Christ the dignitie roiall For Christ is king delyuerer and redemer of the faythfull His victory is ours He hath ouercome Sathan Helle synne and death But the belte or girdle of Christe is not set in the wonted place to wytte about the loynes For as Aretas hath also admonished ther ar no cōcupiscences to be restrained in Christ Therefore is he not gyrded after the maner of synners but about the pappes or brestes to thintent we should vnderstande by the girding that he is kyng of kynges voyd● of all affections Moste rightuous and holy in iudgements and gouernement But yet in the meane tyme furnyshed fo● the defence of his church as we haue red it written in the 9● Psalme The Lord hath put on strength girded hymself c. Christ might seme to haue girded him selfe not after the maner that priestes or kynges vse for that he hath obteyned 〈◊〉 more excellent priesthod and kyngdome induring for eue● To accomplishe

also augmēted the eating of meates offered vnto idols all idolatrie throughout the whole kingdom Euen than also what time the lord in a solemne sacrifice by miracle in mount Carmel through the ministery of Helias had declared to that whole Realme that the religion of Baal was moste vaine false that the religiō of thonly God of Israel was most sincere true For Iezabel neuerthelesse persecuted the truth and established falshod Yea moreouer she toke vpon her gouernemēt in ciuile matters For she vsurped the kings seale countrefetied letters sent them in the kinges name to put Naboth to death a right good and innocent man Such in dede was filthy Iezabel Now after thexample of this defiled woman Women Prophetes that is heretikes were womē in the church of Thyatira which chalēged to thē selues a prerogatiue in the religion teaching in the cōgregatiō taking vpon thē the spirite of prophecie wherof they taught in dede but corrupt doctrine seducing thē whō God by his doctrine had prepared to be his seruaūts But these false prophetisses corrupted their mindes brought forth a new doctrine prophecie many thinges not set forth in the scriptures but fetched out of their own deuelish dreames disceiptfulnes And amōgs other things thei cōmunicated with the Nicolaitans in whordō participating of meates offred to idols Wherof hath ben spokē before And the lord semeth plainly to speake of the Cataphrygiās or Mōtanistes whose foundatiō being laid in the time of S. Iohn after in processe of time especially in thempire of Antoninus .lx. yeares after the Apocalipse set forth brake out more strongly plentifully They say howe Montanus had prophetisses Priscilla Maximilla whiche had visions brought in wōderful reuelatiōs into the church Of whom Eusebius treateth at large in the fift boke of theccles story Chap. 16. And Epiphanius in the .48 heresie in Panario Certes Iohn or Christ him self by Ihon going about at the first beginning to pluck vp distroy the rotes of this heresie by thexample of that wicked woman Iezabel hath cōdemned that same heresie The scripture also elswhere prohibiteth a womā to rule teache or minister in the congregatiō By and by the Lorde hym selfe wyl confute the new prophecies when he shall admonishe vs that he will reueale none other new kinde of doctrine besides that whiche he hath cōmitted or deliuered to his churche Nowe also fornication the eating of meates offered to Idolles are condemned els wherein the scripture moste seueeely as before is sayd But since that those thinges so afflicted and troubl●●he churche of God in the time of the Apostles it is not hard to gether how vndiscrete they be whiche at this daye as I shewed you before for the hatred of the true religion restored accuse it of sectes whiche boyle vp in suche plentie as though that filthines did proue that the Gospel that we preach were not the Gospell For the Gospell that was preached of Iohn and the reste of the Apostles was the moste true and moste pure Gospel how so euer of the false Gospellers crept vp the Nicolaitans Cataphrygians and other sectes innumerable Where neuerthelesse the Gospell impugneth and condemneth all suche maner of sectes and mainteineth the Christian veritie and vnitie of the catholique church Prayse be to the Lorde our God Amen ¶ The Lorde threatneth sore the impenitent as he that rendreth to euery man after his workes The .xiij. Sermon ANd I gaue her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not Behold I will caste her in to a bed and them that commit fornication with her into great aduersitie except they tourne from their dedes And I will kill her children with death And all congregations shall knowe that I am he whiche searcheth the reines and hartes and I will geue vnto euery one of you according to your workes To the fourmer errours and sinnes of Iezabell he addeth an other sinne nothing light to witte The abuse or contēpt of Gods longanimitie the abuse and euen the contempt of God his long suffering God doeth not by and by and out of hande destroy such as be in errour and sinnes also moste greuous But sinners are wonte for the most part to abuse that long animitie of God vnto the occasiō and pretence of sinning more impudētly saying If god did so much abhorre these offences he had distroyed vs long or this But now he norisheth vs benignly therfore doth he not so greatly mislike it But this is an abuse of Gods long suffring For the Lorde saith at this present I haue geuen Iezabell a tyme to repent her and to leaue her fornication and tourne to the Lorde Howbeit she hath not conuerted Which thing the Lorde taketh in moste euill parte that his grace shoulde be verely dispised and set at naught Wherfore S. Paul to the Romains Whether doest thou contemne the ryches of God his goodnes long suffering and lenitie knowing not that the goodnes of God prouoketh thee to repentaunce c. If than the Lorde hath not sodenly in our sinnes oppressed vs let vs not therof take vnto vs a libertie to sinne but let vs rather amende S. Peter saith the Lord is patient towardes vs whilest he wil destroy none but receiue all to repentaūce ii Petri. iii. Certes Iezabel her self when after the death of her husband Achab and the mortal fal of her sonne Ocosias she did not amende nor within the .xii. yeares of her sonne Ioram wherin he is red to haue reigned did repēt her Felt the wrath of God so muche more greuouse for that it was long or it came And in the text followyng the Lord Iesus in dede threateneth moste greuously the Iezabelines that is to witte Sore threateninges the Cataphrigians or Montanistes vnlesse they wyll yet repēt in tyme. For he openeth againe the gates of his grace to the penitent reciting how he will plage the impenitēt Wherby verely he assayeth to driue them into repentaunce by threateninges For in reciting the kyndes or degrees of punishementes he sheweth also diuerse kindes of them that be in errours and declareth to euery one his iudgement which they may by repentaunce eschewe And he is thought to haue rehersed those kindes for this cōsideration least any man happely should thinke him selfe giltles and free in case he be neuer so litle partaker with Iezabel Iezabel shal be cast into a bed First the Lord threateneth Iezabel her selfe that he wyll cast her into a bed He speaketh of the first authours of the euil and of the heresie vpon whom he menaceth to send a sicknes For the bed in many times in the scripture taken for the very diseases wherwith they be vexed that lie in bed And we Germaines say that he is taken with a moste greuous and deadly disease And the Lorde plageth the archheretickes with sicknes of body soul In the meane seasō also he weakneth the force of therrour to

thintent it might by litle litle vanish away They that meddle with Iezabel shal be afflicted Secondly he threatneth great affliction to such as haue to do with Iezabel that is to say to such as cleaue vnto false doctrine receiue errours delight in heresies and go about to set forth the same To these I say he threateneth most greuous afflictiōs to witte of body and soul of this present and of the life to come He semeth to haue said somwhat more than if he had recited certen kindes of punishment The children of Iezabel shal be slayne Finally he menaceth death to the children borne of this copulation and fornicatiō to witte whore sonnes bastardes And those are chiefly the childrē of heretickes which stire vp a freshe and restore newly again heresies already condēned meakened and wearing away These the Lord distroied with temporal and eternal death And the ecclesiasticall story doth testifie that the Lord hath in dede punished most greuously not only the heresie of the Cataphrigiās but al heresies in general And certen thinges cōcerning the Cataphrygiās or Mōtanistes are touched of Euseb lib. 1. of the cl story Cap. 16. The destruction of Achab and Iezabel with al their posteritie The Lorde semeth here to me to haue alluded to the olde story of Iezabel Achab for them as it were cast in a bed frō day to day euer since they began to worship Baal he vexed with sicknes and brought them lowe And the people that receiued the religion of Baal be put to much sorow euils and afflictions Finally their children he brought to a shamefull death Their partakers also were slaine that would haue had Baal his religion safe and sounde and euen to haue bene restored again For after the death of Achab his father not many daies after Ochosias the sonne of Achab and Iezabel bruised with an vnhappy fall and cast in bed died .iiii. Reg. Cap. 1. And Ioram an other sonne of Achab and Iezabel stricken through with an arrowe of Iehu was slaine Athalia the daughter of Achab and Iezabel the wife of Ioram kyng of Iuda the sonne of Iosaphat being diuided with that sweard of Ioiadas fell down before the gates of the temple And Ochosias king of Iuda the sonne of Athalia and Ioram was slaine also by the power of Iehu And after were put to death by the same Iehu the .lxx. sonnes of Achab And all the pristes of Baal are slaine together in the temple and before the Aultar of Baal and not one of so great a nombre escaped Yea the temple the idol and the seruice of Baal were quite and cleane ouerthrowen This olde maruelouse and wonderfull history the Lord calleth to memory signifiyng that he lyueth yet a reuenger and a punisher Who will neither ouerpasse the iust limite nor touche the same out of time For he addeth and all congregations shal know c. Notwithstanding this thing is notable and moste worthy to bee remembred and no lesse full of comforte Hope is se● open for the penitent that in this rehersall of punishementes he putteth in as it were in the middes a mention of repentaunce as though he should say let no man thinke him selfe that he must be distroyed and perishe through a certen fatall necessitie For if any wil repent the gates of the grace of God are set open his synnes shal be forgeuen and he shal be taken in to fauour and shall be deliuered from all those euilles And after this sorte haue taught also the Prophetes Ieremy in the .xviii. Chapter and Ezech. in the .xviii. Chapter But where as the punishement is not by and by executed vpon the impenitent persones you shall haue them that wyll exclame that God is a slepe that he seeth or heareth nothyng Therfore the Lorde hym selfe aunswereth them and sayth And all congregations shall knowe c. The Lord declareth that he is reuēger of the churche When I shall doubtles at the laste execute my vengeaunce in dewe season For then shall all men learne that I neyther slepe nor neglecte my seruauntes at any tyme or wyll suffer those that deserue euyll of me and of my Churche to escape vnpunyshed Furthermore Christe testifieth that he searcheth the ●eynes and heartes of all men And he meaneth that he knoweth all thoughtes and deuises of the harte finally the appetite it selfe and all the desires of man so that he can iudge truly therof for nothing be it neuer so secret is hidde from Christ Christ is God Therfore is he very God For it is the propertie of God belongeth to him alone to know the hartes of tho children of men As Salomon testifieth in the iii. boke of kinges Chap. viii Christ therfore seeth the priuie filthie workes both of the Nicolaitans and all other beastly men Whiche S. Paul saith are vnworthy to come to light or to be expressely declared to men Ephes v. Christ geueth to euery man after his workes Nother doth Christ know only all the thoughtes of men whatsoeuer they be but geueth moreouer to euery man after his owne workes And so the Apostle S. Paul teacheth saying The iust iudgement of God shall be opened whiche wyll rewarde euery man according to his dedes that is to saie Prayse honor and immortalitie to them whiche continue in well doing and seke eternall life But vnto them that are rebelliouse and disobey the truth and followe iniquitie shall come indignation wrath tribulatiō and angwish c. In the .ii. to the Roma For workes be the touchstones of faith and infidelitie And workes whether they be good or euyll be iudged of God and the Godly men according as they procede of faith or of infidelitie Therfore what so euer any of vs shall sowe the same shall he reape also For God is the moste iust rewarder of good and reuenger of euill The same sentence as it is moste true so is it the foundation of the true and Godly Religion Glory be to God ¶ That the doctrine of pitie is so fully s●● forth to the churche that there nedeth no newe Reuelations And of the moste large promesses of Christ made vnto the churche The .xiiij. Sermon ANd to you I say and to others that be of Thiatira Who so euer haue not this doctrine and whiche haue not knowen the depenes of Sathan as they say I will put vpon you none other burthen but that whiche ye haue already Holde fast till I come And whosoeuer ouercometh and kepeth my workes vnto the ende to him wil I geue power ouer nations and he shall rule them with a rod of Iron And as the vessels of a potter shall he breake thē to sheuers Euen as I receiued of my father so wyll I geue hym the morning starre Let hym that hath eares heare what the spirite saieth to the congregations He speaketh here now to the Cataphrygians The great mercy of God and also to the faithfull of the churche

pietie wherein they had excelled hitherto And he sayeth two thinges holde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holde faste that thou hast They had the gospell of Christe and the worde of eternal life the true fayth and godly religion These thinges he commaundeth to holde faste and to persist in the religion ones receyued And whilest he commaunded them to kepe that they had he signifieth by the waie that no new or other doctrine is to be loked for but that this one 's receyued doeth suffice Let vs not thinke therefore in the gouernement of the church vpon other lawes vpon other traditions than of the Gospell of Iesu Christe This is sufficient for the churche After reasonynge as it were of the losse he sayeth Therfore must thou watche diligently and holde strongly the gospel for this beyng taken away thou arte spoyled of thy crowne The crowne is a token of vertue and victory We saye Conquerours and worthie of the Empire are crowned The virgin loseth her crowne that is defiled Therfore heretikes false prophetes and seducers take awaye the crowne what time they seduce and corrupte therefore sayeth the Lorde Thou haste gotten honour and glory see that no man take it from thee So we reade that S. Paull spake in the 2. to the Coloss Let no man take from you the victory In the 18. of Ezechiel the Lorde testifieth that he will not impute rightuousnes to the iuste in case he forsake and leaue his rightousenes let vs praye therefore that we maye euermore perseuer in the worde of the Lorde ¶ He procedeth in recityng moste great rewardes The .xix. Sermon HIm that ouercometh wil I make a piller in the temple of my God and he shall goe no more out And I will wryte vpon him the name of my God and the name of the citie of my God newe Ierusalē which commeth downe out of Heauen from my God and I will wryte vpon him my newe name Lette him that hathe eares heare what the spirite sayeth to the congregations Our Lorde procedeth in raccomptynge muche more ample rewardes whiche he woulde geue to them that ouercome And so he tempereth his wordes that we maye easely perceyue this promesse not onlye to apperteyne to the congregation of Philadelphia but to all the Churches in the whole worlde yea and to euerye of the faythefull And as we haue oftentymes repeted already for I am not asshamed to repete seynge that the Lorde him selfe so greately vrgeth the victorye agayne we saye that those thynges are promised not to suche as fighte lightly or negligently for diuerse fighte The warfare victorye of Christiās and by and by runne awaye but to those that ouercome and perseuer to the ende For our life is a warfare vpon earthe whiche Iob also hath confessed The soldiour hath a sure purpose to ouercome his enemies Our enemies are the deuil the world and the fleshe Against these we muste ernestly fight of none other intent but that we may ouercome The Apostle in the 6. to the Ephes described the armour of the faithful In victory the Sainctes consider sinceries and integritie that we lose nothyng of the veritie knowen but let vs reteyne the pure worde of God and sincere fayth and let vs kepe our bodies our soules cleane from all pollution and that to our liues ende He propoundeth moste ample rewardes by promesse The maner of erectīg pillers Wherby he alludeth to the maner of Grekes and Romanes who decreed Images to suche as deserued wel of the cōmon welthe in the whiche also they wrote theyr vertues for whose cause they were set vp eyther in the court or market place or els where They semed by this meane to deliuer to theyr posteritie as it were by hande the glory of their elders whiche they made also as it were euerlastyng Piller in that scriptures Otherwise the vse of this vocable Columne or piller is diuerse Ieremie is called of God a piller for his constancie The Apostles are called of S. Paull in the 2. to the Galath chiefe pillers for their excellencie and that the churches leaned vpon them for the preaching of the veritie The church it self also is called the piller base of veritie for asmuch as it is groūded vpon the sure rocke Christ In the Temple of Salomō stoode two columnes or pillers figures of the euerlasting kingdome of Christ ● Timo. 3. and of the holy churche In this place a piller is taken for a man in glory and beautie excellent For he sayeth not that he will erecte a piller for a godly man but I wil sayeth he make him a piller that is to saye I wil beautifie him with honours and glory euerlastyng But where shall this piller be set where shall the glory of Sainctes be famouse The piller is set in the Temple not in Courte or market place but in the Temple of my God And the Temple of God is heauen it selfe and in our worlde the holy Churche Gloriouse therfore shal he be in the churche of Sainctes aswel militaunt as triumphaunt Albeit therfore that the very godly heare euill in this worlde yet this worlde shall peryshe Christe shall reigne for euer and the Sainctes shall reigne with him Their glorye then shall remayne for euer and euer And where he sayeth of my God Aretas expoundeth and saieth This saiynge of my God taketh not awaye the diuine nature that is sene in Christ but establisheth as I may say the consubstantialitie For it declareth the vnion of two natures whiche are in the persone of our Lord Iesu to witte of his deitie and humanitie euen after vnderstanding yet not confusely to be indissobible For they aunswer mutualy one another because of the assumptiō of the humane nature the diuine to the humane and likewise the humane to the diuine proprieties c. Moreouer the perpetuitie and stablenes of the glory of the sainctes and faithful is signified where it is added Stable gl●ry and he shall go no more out For many times pillers are brokē and cast down and renowne ones gotten perisheth and fadeth away But Christ promiseth to them that ouercome that they shall neuer be cast out of the fellowship of Sainctes neyther that the glory of the faithfull should be obscured at any time And thus farre of the piller it selfe Here followeth of the inscription of the piller The inscription of the piller of what sort it shal be Thre thinges chiefly are wrytten in the Sainctes to witte the name of God the name also of the citie of God and the new name of God or of Christ Whiche we shal discusse in order First the name of God is ascribed to the godly that is they them selues are called by the name of God be the children and heires of God Whiche is discoursed at large in the first of Iohn and the .viii. to the Romains Ouercomers be the childrē of God And what can you deuise to be more honorable than to

whome ye owe feare sayeth he geue feare And to whom you owe honour geue honour In the third place followeth benediction whiche he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is thankesgeuing and praise For we be commaunded to prayse all the workes of the Lord and to geue thankes for the same Iob is saied to haue blessed or thanked God for the most greuouse affliction that he sent him For he sayed like as it pleased the Lord so hath it bē done the name of the lord be blessed Whilest the beastes do attribute al these things to him that sitteth on the throne by their exāple they teache vs what we should do verely to geue al these singular things vnto god Which if we do al murmuring shall cease disputations cōmenced of searchinge examining the workes of God through out curiositie With the laude and praise of the beastes is ioyned the hymne or songe of the .xxiiii. The songe of the .xxiiii. Elders Elders This is the churche triumphaunt the cōpany of al Sainctes Patrtarches Prophetes Apostles Martirs c. as I declared to you before Mortall men haue not here an example of some one saincte or wise man but of all holy godly wise and worthy menne They haue put of their fleshe and wante affections and errours They be therfore of vncorrupte iudgementes so that there can be no more clere or pure examples ministred to vs. Three or foure thinges are taught vs concernyng these Elders whiche they did or perfourmed not to euery body but to him that sitteth on the throne and liueth for euer euer For so be the titles of God repeted wherof is spokē before We tolde you also that the seates of the Elders were sette rounde about the Throne in whiche they sate clothed with white rayment crowned with crownes of Golde liuynge with him that liueth for euer They first arise out of their seates or chaires The senanatours fall downe before god and fal down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 falle vpon their knees or on their face before god And in falling or kneling down they shewe a submission or lowlines of mynde that we might learne with great humilitie and reuerence to submitte our soules and bodies to our God submitting I say our selues and all our thinges to his good wyll and pleasure But if the blessed soules now purified and already hauing the fruition of the sight of God fall down before the Lorde What should not a wretched man do miserable mortall and a synner Let hym be ashamed of rebellion and slouthfulnes whiche seeth so great submission in the moste noble and Godly soules of heauenly dwellers Than the sainctes worship The saīcts worship and worship in dede none other but him that sitteth on the seate and liueth for euer the father the sonne and the holy ghost God thre and one euerlasting almighty Therfore let vs also worship this God followyng the example of all sainctes To worship adoration We worship God with externall adoration if we vncouer our heades knele bowe before him In spirite and truth and with inwarde worshypping if we depend wholy of him consecrate vs whole vnto hym and wholy loke vpon him as one the only soul incomprehensible moste wyse beste and greatest moste rightuous and moste mercifull And they that thus fall down before the throne of God and so worship him they do not contende with God about his workes they do not expostulate with God vnpatiently why he doth this and permitteth that Vnto all these thinges is added The saicts cast of their crownes that they plucke of the crownes of their heades cast them away before the throne at the fete of hym that sitteth in the throne This is not only a notable modestie but also an humble humilitie wantinge an example Primasius an expositour of the Apocalypse assigning verely vnto God sayth he whatsoeuer vertue and whatsoeuer dignitie they haue For to hym is attributed rightly whatsoeuer is wonne or gotten Of whome he that ouercometh is ayded Thus saith he They testifie and signifie also that they would not take vpon them any Godly power that they would not reigne they would not as the counsellours of God geue counsell to God or prescribe vnto him the least thing in the worlde But to submitte vnto God all power all rule and the whole gouernment them selues and all others to be gouerned For they haue experience and see no man in the worlde vniuersall in heauen or in earth to be wyser mightier greater that none doeth more faithfully more dilligently more safely and better gouerne all thinges Let vs reste therfore O brethren to the iudgement of sainctes and let vs consent herein with them in all thinges Yea with expresse wordes they testifie why they threwe away their crownes Not that being vnthankefull to God they esteme not highly his giftes But for that they playnly acknowledge al glory to be dew to him alone Therfore they accorde very well with the beastes and all the creatures of God and saiyng an Himne to the high Prince they confesse him to be worthy to receiue glory c. And he said to receiue not that he had it not before But for that it shuld seme a most vnworthy thing if either they or any other creature woulde chalenge vnto them those thinges which apperteine to God alone To receiue glory These thinges apperteine to no creature c. And they commende God highly whom they call their Lorde God Some copies adde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which art holy For thei do agree in all things with the beastes which cried also holy holy holy Lord God omnipotent To the same gaue they also glory honour wherof before So also the elders ascribe to him nowe the selfsame thinges And especially they attribute to God power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and take it from thē selues Why than doe the Papistes attribute power and operation to the sainctes in heauen Which neuerthelesse here plainly them selues attribute this to God alone Sainctes geue power to God take it not to them selues S. Ihō Peter liuing toke it not in good part that the people semed to attribute to them somwhat of godly power For when they had restored one that halted before the tēple the people were in admiratiō therof they said ye men of Israel what maruel you at this or why loke ye vpon vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as though through our owne power or holines we haue brought to passe that this man should walke The God of our fathers hath done this c. But how much lesse shall we now thinke that being deliuered from al corruption they would require any godly power to be geuen or diuine honour attributed c. They adde also or render a reason why they submit both them selues al theirs vnto God attribute to the same glory honor power For thou say thei hast created al things God that creatour

slowe and to make those cleane that are couered with ruste and maye fine the corrupte Golde For so the Scripture defineth in the .11 chapt of Daniel and the Apostle .1 Peter Chapter .4 Christe therfore not to distroie but to trie permitteth very many things to Tirannes agaynst the Church The godly men also procure to themselues the heauy hande of the Lorde whilest in dede they beleue rightly in the sonne of God and depende only of him but neuerthelesse are intangled with sondry and euill affections and committe suche actes as not becometh them This maye you see declared at large in the beginnyng of the eight boke of the Ecclesiastical story of Eusebius whiche I lately alledged And the Tirannes that persecuted had an other respect as Sinacherib and Antiochus than our Bisshoppes and Princes haue at this daye For these nowe are moued with the hatred of Religion and are pricked forewarde of Sathan They will haue in any wise their Idolatrouse religion mainteyned and the religion of the Gospell vteerly distroyed They can not abide to haue their Idolles or other sinnes reproued for this cause are they mad at the faithfull and suche as frankely speake agaynst blame ther Idolles and wickednes And thus doeth the persecutiō arrise boyle vp and procede The whiche when the faithfull see increase thus Mutining in persecution and fele themselues sore oppressed they maruel howe longe the lord wil winke at this Many crie out the Lorde neglecteth his matters The Lorde semeth to deale vniustely with his seruauntes he semeth vtterly to forget them Neither is there any doubte but that many by murmuryng offende the Lord greuously Now therfore are we taught that we might haue hope and patience And at this present Heauen is opened to vs and shewed vs to beholde The sum of such thīgs as are opened to vs in this seale where as be the soules of them that are slaine in persecutions and what is their state is declared morouer that God forgetteth not to be reuenged whie also he differreth the same and how long These thinges are spoken to the consolation of al the faithful that are now afflicted with persecutiō Farre other thinges are exhibited here vnto vs than painters instructed or rather corrupted of with monkes and Freres set forth to vs to wit a great company of Monkes and Nunnes couered in Heauen with our ladies coule as though the greatest parte of them should be saued S. Iohn sheweth vs neuer a Frere but rather many martirs whom the Freres at this daye make before other men Herof therfore as of the doctrine of veritie we shal learne what state or degree is most plentifull in heauē not that we should thinke no man but only Martirs to be saued for so many as truely beleue in Christe and crucifie their fleshe with the concupiscences of the same shal be associated with holy Martirs and reioyse with Christ for euer but that chiefly the holy Martirs are saued whome the madde world supposeth to be lost Soules seperated frō the body be immortal But al thinges here must be examined of vs most diligētly For this place as it is most manifeste so is it ful of moste holesome doctrines First S. Iohn seeth and sheweth vs as it were poynting with his fingar the soules that of those that were slaine to wit the spiritual immortal substaunces which the body beyng lost and consumed do remaine a liue The body may be killed the soule can not be killed Whiche our Sauiour hath liuely expressed in the .10 of Matth. In the 12. of Luke he sayeth be not affrayde of them which sleye the body and after this haue nothing that they can do more c. Therfore tirānes might wel kil the bodies of Martirs they had no power ouer their soules This place witnesseth manifestly the soules of men not only to be immortall but also liuing or watcheful not slepyng to remayne liue in Heauē For there be that thinke the soules departed from the body to slepe The cause maketh martyrs not the punishment which thing is most vayne Nowe also the cause is shewed for the which the Martirs are slayne for the worde of God and for the testimony that they had they were not put to death for their wickednes or euill doynges but for the trewe religion wherby they confessed and preached that word of God which was in the beginning and was made fleshe and the Gospell which they had committed vnto them the testimony of God and eternal life which also thei ministred and preached Of the word of God and testimony of Iesu Christ I haue spoken in the first Chapt. For no other cause at this day are slaine innumerable of Bisshoppes kinges and princes Yf they were aduouterers vsurers blasphemers wicked doers they shuld be in some estimation nowe where they professe the onely sonne of God and preache the Gospell they are murthered without mercy Here haue we also certenly defined who be very Martirs in dede not they that suffer tourmentes but they that are tourmented for gods word For the cause maketh the Martir But where are the soules of them that are slayne for the word of God shewed vnto vs vnder the Aultar Where the place is of the soules slayne for gods word the Aultar is after in the .8 chapt set in heauē before the throne of God Therfore the soules of al Sainctes are in Heauen before the Throne of God which was also signified before in the Tipe of the .xxiiii. Elders The Lord hath sayed also where I am there shal be also my seruaunt But the lord is in heauē therfore the soules of the faithful whose bodies haue ben slayne The souls vnder the Aultar or buried without slaughter be no where els but in Heauen Neuerthelesse it waunteth not a singular misterie that they are layed vnder the Aultar as vnder a shadow through whose benefite the soules may be wel at ease I told you before and here againe repete that the aultar signifieth Christ For he is also the golden aultar intercessour and propiciation for our sinnes For the propiciation and mediation of Christ we are receiued into the Ioyes celestial And Christ is our life saluatiō Vnder him we lie hidde as vnder a couer or a shadow Thomas of Aquine expounding this place of S. Iohn by the aultar sayeth he is signified Christ in whom and by whome we should offer to the father what good so euer we doe and through him is made acceptable what so euer is pleasaunte to God Vnder this Aultar namely vnder christ be the soules not only in the state of life to witte whilest we liue here in earth but also in the state of our countrie to wit in heauē as vnder him of whome they are couered as vnder a shadowe agaynst all euill Thus sayeth Thomas But I suppose that there is an other thing also signified that martirs are made confourmable to the Aultar that is to

them was commaunded that they should not kill them but that they should be vexed fiue monethes and their payne was as the payne that commeth of a Scorpion when he hath stonge a manne And in those dayes shal men seke death and shal not finde it and shall desire to die and death shall flie from them The fourth trompet declareth an hurtful and a long strife The .iiii. trompe whiche arrose in the churche of the doctrine of Pelagius This Pelagius taught that the sinne of Adam hurte him alone and not mankinde and therefore that in the same all men die not That man hath free will so that he maye doe good Nother that he shoulde be free if he nede the helpe of God Which if he hath it he maye the more easely do good The doctrine of pelagius yf he haue it not that he maye yet neuerthelesse worke it by his owne vertue and maye deserue euerlasting life Therefore that our victory is not of the helpe of God but of free will and that remission is not geuen to the penitentes after the grace and mercy of God but after the deserte and workynge of them whiche through repentaunce are worthye of Godes mercy and the residewe whiche Saincte Austen reherseth in the hondreth and sixte Epistle to Boniface that Pelagius had renounced whiche neuerthelesse in an other place he sheweth that the same had taught and retourned to his vomite As in the register of heresie the .88 heresie The same against two epistles of the Pelagiās in the .2 boke 2 chapter to Boniface The Manicheis sayeth he denie that a good man had the beginnyng of euill of free will Whileste fooles eschewe one vice they runne into an other The Pelagians saye also that an euill man hath free will sufficiently to fulfil a good precept The catholicke doctrine reproueth both these and to them sayeth God made man right c. And to these sayeth yf the sonne hath made you free you ate verely free And in the .9 chapt the same Authour Where we saye that the wil of man vnto euil is free to do good that it muste be made free by the grace of God it maketh against the Pelagians And where we saye that the euill whiche was not before is comen of him it is agaynst the Manicheis Moreouer in the .8 chapt Pelagius sayeth that the thing which good is maye soner be accomplisshed if grace helpe therto By the whiche addition that is in adding more easely he signifieth verely that he thinketh thus that although the help of grace waūt he can yet albeit more hardely perfourme that which is good by free will Agayne the same in the .47 Epistle to Valent. Who falle into the errour of the Pelagiās That man saieth he falleth into the errour of the Pelagians whiche supposeth the grace of God to be geuen for any deserte of man whiche grace alone maketh manne free through Iesus Christe our Lorde But agayne he that thinketh when the Lord shal come vnto iudgement that man is not iudged after his workes which might now by reason of his age vse the free choyse of will is neuerthelesse in errour He sayeth in a maner the same thing in the .2 booke the .18 chapt of the merites and remission of sinnes The third part of the sunne of the Moone the starres smitten With this doctrine of Pelagius was stricken that is to saye darkened for so S. Iohn him selfe a little after expoundeth him selfe saying in so much that the third parte of them was obscured c. the thirde parte of the sunne to witte of Christ which is the trewe sunne of rightuousenes For the Pelagians doctrine denied the grace of Christ with mans merite trode vnderfote the merite of Christ Whereby also the thirde parte that is to witte a great parte of the Moone namely the church is red to be smitten and darkened moreouer the thirde parte of starres I meane preachers and ministers wounded hath not taught with such light as became them For stories witnesse that this heresie hath sore infected diuerse partes of the worlde that euen Bisshoppes and learned menne haue followed this noysome errour At Palestine in the Easte was assembled a Sinode of Bisshoppes which droue Pelagius to recant They disputed also at Rome sharpely against the Pelagian doctrine and Counsels were assembled which condemned the same Ther were Sinodes assembled in Affrica and after much reasoning sentence was pronounced against Pelagius For many were dayly taken with this infection For the doctrine is pleasaunt whiche waunteth not euen at this daie his mainteyners and defenders For it semeth godly and for the study of vertue nedeful to affirme free wil and mans merite agayne it appereth to be licentiouse to attribute al thing to Gods grace He addeth Nother daye nor night shone with the third parte therof that nother the daie shone with the thirde parte thereof nother yet the night with his thirde parte For like as grace coulde not be fully perceiued by the doctrine of Pelagius no more coulde sinne And S. Austen in the .2 boke of originall sinne .23.24 chapt sayeth that the Christiane fayth consisteth properly in the cause of two men For by the one we were solde vnder sinne by the other redemed from sinne by the one throwē headlong into death but by the other deliuered vnto life c. And whilest al these thinges are spoken they are spoken to this ende that we might beware of those Heresies And hitherto haue we spoken of the foure trompes and greatest conflictes in the churche there remayne three trompettes which haue now a little preface set before them wherby the mindes of the hearers might be excited And S. Iohn sayeth howe he sawe an Aungell flying thorowe the middes of heauen and hearde him criyng wo wo Wo to the inhabiters of the earth wo to the inhabiters of the Earth and that for those thinges which should chaunce vnto men than when the other three trompettes should be blowen Therfore vnto euery trompet is Ioyned an wo. Whiche we expresse very well in dutche by owe owe owe. For the Grekes saye and S. Iohn wrote in Greke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it signifieth verely that the times of the fourmer conflictes were sharpe but yet that suche as follow shal be a great deale sharper and crueller For I tolde you in an other place that this vocable wo compriseth the euilles bothe of this life present and also of the life to come aswell of body as of soule Therfore shall the times of Papistrie Mahometrie and of the last iudgement be most daingerouse Som read an Egle for an Angell The complutensian copie hath an Egle where we reade an Aungell fliyng thorow the middes of heauē perauenture because he founde it so in Aretas Yea and the cōmon translation commonly called S. Hieromes hath an Egle for an Aūgell And therfore Primasius readeth it so likewise which semeth to haue followed

salute and cal him most blessed father moste holy Pope c. Christ setteth forth with an other stile and geueth him other titles His name sayeth he was Abbadon in Hebrewe and in Greke Apollyon He publissheth his name in eyther tounge for none other cause than for that in eyther Testament wherof the one is written in Hebrew the other in greke this title is attributed to him Abbadon or Abbaddon or Apollyon signifieth a waster or destroyer But Daniel in the .7.8 and .11 The childe of perditiō chapt And Zachar. in the .11 doe attribute to Antichrist this vertue and propertie S. Paul calleth him the sonne of perdition to wit most lost most damnable and the greatest Authour of perdition and damnation whiche finally shall be vnto many Authour of slaughter by sondry warres For through false doctrine he distroyeth soules and with tiranny by fire and sworde he wasteth the lande and those that refuse to obeye him moste cruelly Let the Popes actes be considered and the practises of spirituall fathers lette them be applied to these oracles of God and than let a cōparison and iudgement be made And this is as it were the keye openyng to vs the sense of this place and that it should be expounded of Antichrist whome S. Paull called the sonne of perdition Habad in Hebrewe signifieth is loste or distroied And therof cometh Habbaedon perdition or destruction So in Greke Apoleo and Apollyme signifieth to lose and distroy herof is Apollyon The Lord Iesus slaye this destroyer with the breath of his mouth take him away vtterly by his gloriouse commyng ¶ The sixte trompet is expounded where is created of Saracenes and turkishe matters The .xli. Sermon ONe wo is paste and beholde two woes come yet after this And the sixte Aungel blewe and I hearde a voyce from the foure corners of the golden Aultar whiche is before the eyes of God saiyng to the sixt angel which had the trompet lowse the foure Angels which are bound in the great riuer Euphrates And the foure Angels were lowsed which were prepared for an houre for a daie for a moneth and for a yeare for to slaye the the thirde parte of men And the nombre of Horsemen of warre were twenty times ten thousande And I hearde the nombre of thē And thus I sawe the horses in a vision and them that sate on them hauing firie habbergions of a yalowe and brimstony colour and the heades of the horses were as the heades of Lions And out of theyr mouthes wente forth fire smoke and brimstone And of these three was the third part of mē killed that is to say of fire smoke brimstone whiche proceded out of the mouthes of them For their power was in their mouths in their tailes for their tailes were like vnto serpentes hauing heades and with them did they hurt The sixte cōflicte or fight is of Mahometrie by the Saracenes Turkes Tartariās most cruelly foughten and with muche wo. And would God it were foughten For we perceiue dayly by the thinges themselues the misterie of the prophecie and see the fulfilling and euen experience it also At the sounde of the trompe of the sixte Aungell S. Iohn heareth a voice from the foure corners of the golden Aultar The some of the vision that is to saye from the middes of the Aultar neither is there any cause why we should seke a misterie in the fourth nōbre And he speaketh of that Aultar whiche is before the eyes of God That voice commaundeth the Aungell trompetter to lowse the foure Aungels bounden in the great riuer of Euphrates Whiche thing as soone as it was done an innumerable armie of horsemen marched forwarde and sleyeth and distroyeth the third parte of the earth that is the third parte of men And those horsemen and the force or power therof is most diligently described We learned of late that the golden Aultar The goldē Aultar doeth signifie Christ sitting on the right hād of the father He is purer and more preciouse than golde he is priest and sacrifice of all the faithful standing before the eyes of God to witte pleasyng God wherin or in whome his soule is pleased with al faythfull whose vertue suffiseth all And suche a one God the father would haue him to be preached and beleued of all the faythfull in the worlde Such a one also the auncient church instituted of the Apostles beleued and taught him vntill by the worke and instigation of the Deuill menne moste corrupt sprange vp in the churche whereof these deny the deitie of Christe those the humanitie others plucked a sonder the persone consisting of God and manne and others confounded the natures or proprieties of natures The goodnes of God suffered this longe patiently many times sendynge faythfull and open defenders of the veritie whiche mighte roote out those blasphemouse errours the whiche we haue red to be done by seuerall Bisshoppes or Preachers of the church or by ecclesiastical assemblees which we call coūsels such as were the counsells Nicene Constantinopolitane Ephesine and Chalcedonian In the whiche were cōdemned Arrius Macedonius Nestorius Eutiches and other monstres of heretikes which impugned Christ Howebeit the vncurable peruersenes of men gettyng the vpper hande there was none ende of alteration and blasphemies For two great Bishops of no smal churches Peter and Seuerus deny thaultar Christ to be dead Peter patriarche of Antioche and Seuerus of Constantinople springyng vp in the reigne of the emperour Iustinian impudently and moste wickedly affirmed as the actes of the .5 counsell of Constantinople doe plentifully enough declare that the body of Christ was vtterly in corruptible and verely deified neyther subiecte to any affections as oures are For that the worde was so made fleshe that by and by it began to be one nature to wit diuine that Christ was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is incorruptible These thinges should seme to procede out of the most wicked schole of Valentinian Marcion and Manicheus Iames Syrus Iames Sirus surnamed Zāzalus of whom at this day the Iacobites are named in the east countrie toke vpon him to defende the doctrine of Seuerus He taught that Christ for that he was incorruptible neyther to haue suffered nor ben crucified but that some other was put to tormētes for Christ Christ only standing by inuisibly and loking on This opinion was madde by many testimonies of the Scripture and finally repulsed and ouerthrowen with the articles of our fayth Christ suffered verely For we professe in our belefe suffered vnder Ponce pilate was crucified dead and buried The prophetes tolde expressely before that he should suffer and die that he hath suffered and died the Apostles haue witnessed of whom S. Iohn behelde the death and passion of Christ on the crosse Nother reade we that the Lorde was euer so much offended with his disciples as he was with Peter goyng about to diswade the passion as vnworthie the sonne of God For he

disturbers sediciouse iniuriouse against God his saintes and agaynst al men Therfore they wisshe with all theyr hartes to be eased of this burthen The Lorde Iesus forgeue them this sinne ¶ The enterprises of Antichrist in wedyng out the preachers to be vayne howe great shall be the rewardes of Preachers and of the punnisshement of the wicked The .xlix. Sermon ANd after three daies and an halfe the spirite of life frō God entred into them And they stode vpon their fete and greate feare came vpon them that sawe them And they hearde a great voice from heauē saiyng vnto them come vp hither And they ascended vp into heauē in a clowde and their enemies sawe them And the same houre was there a great Earthquake the tenth parte of the citie fell and in the Earthquake were slayne names of mē seuen thousand and the remnaūt were feared and gaue glory to God of Heauen Hitherto hath he spoken of the wicked ioyes and gladnes of Antichrist and the vngodly men of the last age The ioyes of the wicked not to be long conceiued of the slaughter of the holy prophetes of god They wil thinke how they shal reigne for euer in those their errours superstitions and pleasures and suppose by theyr murtherynge to haue put to silence the preachyng of the gospel to them most displeasaunt But consequently the Lord sheweth that their hope is most vaine their attemptes to be frustrate and their ioyes shorte yea and quickely to be tourned into mourning miserie For first he declareth that the prophecie or preachyng shal be repared of God by newe prophetes and that to the greatest griefe and terrour of the Antichristians whiche loked for no such thing After he sheweth howe great rewardes are prepared and geuē to the preachers oppressed in this world and intreated with greate vilanie Finally he signifieth that the wicked shall not liue in continuall pleasure but that God will disturbe their ioyes bringyng miserie vpon them euen in this world Which although he beginne at the laste in this world to punnishe in an other worlde will more aboundantly augmente their tourmentes euerlastyng And all these thinges shall nede no greate exposition so that we marke dilligently what thinges haue ben done a fewe ages past and what be done also at this daye And al these thinges apperteyne to the consolation and comforte of Sainctes The prophecie shal be oft restored which semed extinguisshed First that the free preachyng of Gods word agaynst Antichrist shal be restored whiche semed to him selfe to haue ouercomen and oppressed all prophecie he declareth by these wordes and after three dayes and an halfe the spirite of life from God entred into them He signifieth by that nombre of dayes as I tolde you before a very shorte time as though he shoulde saye they shall not longe in ioye their false and blouddy pleasures For God shal reyse vp other Prophetes in the place of those that are dead And he speaketh as though God should reyse vp the selfe same prophetes whiche Antichrist had slayne and that he would obiecte them agayne to the wicked in their owne bodies Howbeit they shal be reised agayne in their bodies at the laste daye but nowe shall other preachers succede in the place of those that reste vnto whom God shall geue that spirite of his which he had geuen to the others that are dead Therefore he calleth this the spirite of life for as much as those which were slaine for the same doctrine seme as it were to haue liued agayne Verely for lickenes of doctrine Iohn Baptiste Helias and the prophet Ieremie semed to haue ben reuiued in Christ as is red in the .14 and .16 of Matth. And here is expressely saied that the same spirite did not procede of the Deuill or of men as it is sayed at this daye of many but of God For he with his spirite which is one inspireth his ministers and directeth the same by his worde that the latter wholy aunswer to the fourmer in doctrine and seuere rebukyng of sinnes c. For the liuely effecte of that spirite followeth and they stode vpon their fete that is to saye they liued againe Their doctrine semed ouerthrowen and troden vnder fote but Gods worde standeth agayne vpon his fete and runneth moste swiftely We saye in Dutche of suche as be restored to expounde the effecte that same also appertayneth that the Antichristians seyng other preachers succede in the roume of thē that were slaine beyng stricken with feare knowe not whether to tourne them By the waye therefore is signified that the course of the worde shall be fortunate and the whiche these menne can not stoppe by any meanes howe so euer they rage and murther All these thinges shall be better vnderstande by the Histories of later times and of suche thinges as are done yet at this daye And to the intente that omittyng the eldeste thinges I maye touche those of latter time the Bisshoppes of Rome had thought they had wonne the fielde in the counsell of Constaunce when they had burned Iohn Husse and Hierome of Prage but within a shorte time after many godly and wel learned men sprange vp in Boheme and in other cuntries in whom those slayne appered to haue takē againe the spirite of life In Italy Laurence Valla taught to his greate prayse and also Hieronimus Sauanorela c. In Germany taught many godly men as in Fraunce also in Englande and other nations Thirtie yeres paste through the grace of God was brought a light into the world by Mirandula Reuchline Erasmus Luther Zwinglius Oecolāpadius Melanchthon and innumerable others in whom the spirite of life vttering it selfe after euery mans talente set forth the Scriptures detected the Romisshe wickednes and rebuked the vices of all states but especially of the clergie The Romish are affrayde of this spirite and fill the eares of themperour kinges with complainctes and accusations crie out that we should all with our bokes be distroyed burned Howebeit the power of God neuerthelesse maketh the prophetes to stāde on their fete and their preachyng to runne a pase howe so euer these rage in their furie persecute gods veritie preached through out the whole world To God be the prayse and glory In this cōsolatiō are mixed also rewardes prepared for the faithful ministers Great rewardes prepared for the godly ministers whō the Antichristians slaiyng do first excōmunicate that they maye sende them as it were boūden might as it were addicte thē to Deuils of thē to be tourmented with euerlastyng punnishmentes And hitherto haue all preachers bē thought which haue spokē agaynst the church of Rome haue suffered therfore at the Popes hāde to haue perisshed both body and soule their bodies I saye consumed with fire and their soules throwē downe into hell For they were condemned as heretikes and enemies of God and the church and euen as the plagues of mankinde so taken

out of this life But contrarywise the Lord here pronounceth and declareth euerlasting rewardes to be for them prepared For theyr soules deliuered from their bodies are streight waye taken vppe into heauen and their bodies reysed at the last iudgement ascende into heauē also that there they maie reioyce with Christ for euermore But to the intent that this godly promesse of the euerlastyng and inestimable rewarde might be of more authoritie and credit with al men the Lord propoundeth it not simplely but most gallaūtly decked and ●●rnisshed for he setteth before that a voyce was sente to the prophetes and that from heauen morouer great or lowde For great is the consent of Patriarches Prophetes and Apostles with the very sonne of god in most assured doctrine wherupō we beleue vndoubtedly that those which suffer for the confession of Christ are saued both body and soule And that doctrine was brought frō heauen that there is no place lefte for doubtfulnes There be testimonies in the scriptures both manifest and many as in .26 of Esaye .12 of Daniel .10 and .16 of Matth .14 of Iohn and diuerse others What shuld we saye that at this present is brought an expresse testimony hereof for a voice soundeth from Heauen ouer the afflicted with the tiranny of Antichrist Come vp hither come vp hither That is asmuch to saye as I see the lewdenes and crueltie of the Antichristians to be such that there is no place lefte you in earth They tourmoyle and persecute you as plagues and vnworthie to liue on the earth come ye therefore hither to me into the heauenly palace whither I my selfe came also after the crosse and opprobriouse death We reade in the Gospel that the iudge shall saye to the godly come the blessed of my father c. They wēt vp into heauen in a clowde Furthermore leeste any man should thinke these wordes to be vayne the lord adioyneth by S. Iohn and they ascended into heauen not for that the resurrection is made already but for the vndoubted certentie of the thing he speaketh of the thing to come as if it were paste of the which sorte are founde many lyke phrases euery where in the Prophetes Helias in times past ascēded into heauē both soule and body as we reade in the .4 boke of Kinges the .2 chapt by the same miracle he shewed than also what rewarde the Lorde hath prepared for the faythfull preachers of Gods worde nother is there any other thing here nowe repeted He addeth how they went vp in a clowde For a clowde toke vp Christe our head from the eyes of the disciples and we shal be also taken vp in a clowde to mete the Lord in the ayre as the scripture reciteth in the .1 of the Actes and the .1 to the Thessalonians the .4 chap. Albeit therfore that preachers those which beleue the preachers be excōmunicated of Antichrist through open and shamefull punisshmentes should seme to be sent to the Deuill yet Christ receiueth them deliuered from al euils vnto him into the palace of Heauen Vnto this he addeth an other thing also and their enemies sawe them Their enemies sawe them They saw I saye with an horrible feare for whilest they shall see them whom they haue condēned for gods enemies as the trewe and honorable frendes of God to be in glory therof they shal gather that they themselues shal be deputed into the fellowship of Deuilles Reade herof a plentiful cōmentary in the .3 .5 chapt of the boke of wisedome Albeit therfore that the preachers of the Gospell in this present worlde be iudged and seme and appere before the world as damned yet in that same daye wherin all men shal be assembled so many as euer haue ben be now or shall be vnto al it shal be manifest that these be the most dere frēdes of God and that their cause is best And herewith wil the lorde haue them comforted which are persecuted condemned dispised and spurned for the preachyng of Gods worde By these thinges he prepareth establissheth the mindes of the faithful that thei be not discouraged with the rebukes reuilinges and oppressions of Antichrist and his limmes Finally the Lorde addeth also certen thinges of the miseries of the Antichristians The calamities of the Antichristians wherwith the rightuouse Lord beginneth to punnish them to interrupte their wicked ioyes that at the last in an other world he maye put the same to tourmētes that neuer shal haue ende In that same houre sayeth he the same time doubtles wherin they shall afflicte the prophetes shal be made a great Earthquake the tenth parte of the citie shal fal And the tenth part we vnderstād to be great yet so that the more parte shal remaine in errour As S. Peter prophecied should come to passe in the .2 of Peter the .2 And the Lord him selfe also in the .7 of Matth. And he semeth to recite two euilles which hāge ouer them calamities and reuoltinges For S. Iohn him selfe semeth to adde an exposition and to saye and there were slayne in the Earthquake the names of seuen thousande men And the residewe were affrayed and gaue glory to God of Heauen Therfore I suppose by the Earthquake to be signified excedyng greate alterations Seuē M. men slaine with the earthquake commotions seditions warres slaughters and distructions And he sayed the names of men after the Hebrewe phrase for a nombre of men And he put 7000. a nombre certayne for an vncertayne as where it is sayed to Helias I haue lefte me seuen thousande men which haue not boughed their knees to Baal For if it signifieth a great multitude Likewise he signifieth here also that no smal nombre of Antichristians shal be dispatched out of the waye by slaughter and sondry or all kindes of calamities Agayne he signifieth that the tenth parte of the world that is to saye the adherentes and fauourers of the Romisshe churche shall reuolte not a fewe of them from the same church beyng feared with the preachyng of God his worde and with plagues inflicted to the enemies of God his worde and so they shal forsake the Romisshe churche that they shal geue all glory to the God of Heauen The tenth part of the citie falleth Hitherto being abused with the Romish trifles and sophisticall opinions they haue not geuen all glory wholy to the trewe God creatour of heauen end earth and the inhabiter and geuer of heauen whilest they haue attributed more vnto creatures mens inuentions and to errours than to the veritie and communicated the glory which they owe to God alone vnto sainctes also and to the workes of their handes but now beyng instructed with the preachyng of the gospel they wil depende of God alone and wil ascribe al glory vnto him through Christ Nowe if ye conferre herwith histories not olde for wherunto shoulde I moleste you with a long rehersall but lately made that with in

finished both of the Citie distroyed and the people of God ouercome There were caried aboute in the triumph the holy vessels of the Temple and euen the God of the Iewes as vanquished and bounden was sene led into the Capitoll house to make his supplication to their great God Iupiter as it pleased them Whereupon we vnderstande that the name of God was no whit lesse outrageously blasphemed at that tyme than it was in olde time of the Palestines or Philistians what tyme they set the Arcke in the temple of their God Dagon lykewyse of Rapsake and Synnacherib moreouer of Balthazar Kyng of Babylon in the .5 chapter of Daniel But the offendours are founde out at the laste Secondely the Romaines blasphemed the Tabernacle of God That same oulde Tabernacle of the people of Israell was not onelye the offyce or place of religion and worshyppyng but also a token of Gods presence For God is nowe presente in the myddes of his Churche a fygure of whome the Tabernacle of witnesse represented But the Romaynes called the Christen church wycked foolysh seditiouse whorysh and detestable whych they also moste greuouselie ded persecute and sought to destroy by al meanes hereunto also they bent their whole power Finally they blasphemed also the heauenly dwellers Gods Sainctes ouerwhelmed with reproches the happie and blessed soules of Sainctes Propheies and Apostles whom thei called wicked seducers peace breakers blasphemers heretikes and sinnefull persons For at this time whilest S. Iohn wrote these things diuerse Apostles vnder the Romane Empire had nowe ben executed and slayne as plagues of the worlde yea their memorial and doctrine condemned But hereof you perceyue how displeasauntly God taketh it if any man raile vpon godly preachers and holy ministers of churches For the Lord taketh the reproche spoken as it were agaynst him selfe There remayne yet at this daye certen blasphemies of this sorte with Cornel. Tacitus in the .21 booke of Augustallus written agaynste Moses and the people of God Morouer God permitteth the beast that he should warre vpon the Sainctes and ouercome them The beaste maketh war with the sainctes For the Romane Empire vnto the time of Constantine the greate stired vp ten most greuouse persecutions against the church Wherof you maye reade Eusebius bisshop of Cesaria and Orosius in the history which he wrote to S. Austen And this place chiefly apperteyneth to the instruction and comforte of the churche For the Lord also in the Gospell prophecieth of the destenies of the church to the consolation and information of the godly as appereth in the .15 and .16 chapt of S. Iohn And how the Sainctes be ouercome I declared in the .11 chapt The Lord Iesus preserue his church Amen ¶ Of the power of the Romane Empire and who worshippe the beast and of the destruction of Rome and the Romane Empire The .lvij. Sermon ANd power was geuen him ouer all kinrede tongue and nation and al that dwel vpon the Earth worshypte hym whose names are not wrytten in the Booke of life of the lambe whiche was killed from the beginnyng of the world Yf any mā haue an eare let him heare He that leadeth into captiuitie shall goe into captiuitie he that killeth with a sword must be killed with the sworde Here is the patience and the fayth of Sainctes Of the power of the Rom. Empire The Apostle by the reuelation of Christe speaketh also of the power maiestie of the Romane Empire The Romane Empire was in dede of greatest power in the time of Octauius Augustus also in the time of Domitian his empire and in the reigne of Traiane also vnder Hadrian Aureliane Diocletian and Constantine The greater parte of the worlde inhabited obeied therunto as al Europe in a maner Asia Africke as both latin and Greke histories do testifie Howbeit herof the lord warneth vs that we should not curiousely search the counselles of God beyng inquisitiue whie God gaue so great power to the Romanes whom he knewe would abuse the same to the oppression of Christes Church for where he saieth that the power was geuen to Rome he stilleth and appeaseth all murmuringes For Empires be of God But he is most wise rightuouse and holy Where therfore he made the kingdomes of the world subiecte to Rome he did it wisely iustely and holily In that the Romanes corrupte Gods ordenaunce and committe themselues to be gouerned of the Deuill it cometh of euill Let our disputations here cease for the wise man sayeth also that wicked men and hipochrites reigne for the sinnes of the people And that he reherseth kinreddes tōgues and nations he doeth after the imitation of the Prophet Daniel which by such a phrase of speach is wonte to signifie a moste large and puissaunt Empire But what apperteyneth this to vs or what profit sayest thou cometh to vs herby that the Romane Empire is so far extended through out the worlde This verely we see howe this prophecie hath hitte euery thing rightly that wente before therefore is there lefte no place to doubte of the thinges that followe Let vs consider moreouer that moste puissaunt kingdomes which seme to men inuincible maye of God be disolued without any difficultie lette vs therefore learne to feare God and to walke in his commaundementes and to dispise these earthly thinges Now also he declareth more expressely who shall worship the beast Who worshippe the beaste for he sayed that men in the world should be taken with admiration of the beaste and shal worship the beast he now declareth the same and so placeth the word of worshipping that he maye vnderstāde it as wel of those that are present as also to come For he speaketh not only of men of his time but of al which rauished with the admiration of thempire and maiestie thereof shal eyther denye or contemne the fayth of Christ And he sayeth that al shal worship the beaste that dwell vpon Earth and leeste any man should referre it absolutely vnto al as though non of the trewe worshippers of God shoulde be any he annexeth whose names are not written in the boke of life of the lābe to wit the reprobates not the chosen the vnbeleuers I say which cōtemne the word of the gospel disdaigne to heare it and be rebelles to Christ Aretas the expositour they dwell vpon the earth sayeth he which are moued with no care of heauenly things nor of the glory that there is or geue themselues to earthly habitation and applie themselues to a beastly life according to the same Thomas of Aquine bringeth also a testimony out of the .17 of Ieremie They that departe from me shall be written in the Earth For they haue forsaken the veyne of liuely waters euen the lord him selfe Of the boke of life I haue spoken in the .3 and .5 chapt and wil speake of the same in the .19 and 20. chapt of the Apocalipse Hereunto he annexeth a notable thing after the maner of Apostles which

shall discourse more at large of the distruction of Rome in the .17 chap. Wherfore within the space of .136 yeares Rome came seuen tymes into straungers handes and was sacked most cruelly and fell on the edge of the sworde and was led into captiuitie Councell how the godly shall demeane thēselues in so great euils which hath long stricken with the swoorde and led away all nations prisoners This was the iust iudgement of God And S. Ihon annexeth a doctrine howe the godly shulde behaue thēselues in so greate troubles and aduersities Here that is to wit whilest the Romanes reigne and rage also in those blouddy and cruel alterations and destruction of the Romane Empire the Sainctes shall nede to haue patience or perseueraunce and fayth These two vertues shal kepe the faithfull that they perish not also Of patience the lord speaketh in S. Luke the .21 chapt In your patience shal you possesse your soules Of faith speaketh blessed Iohn and this is the victory that ouercometh the world euen your faith Impatience and incredulitie hath led away many into the deniyng of the faith to idolatrie and to al vngodlines So learne we also how to arme our selues in our dayes against all vngodlines The lord deliuer vs from euill Amen ¶ Of an other beast which cometh vp out of the Earth that is to saye of Antichrist The .lviij. Sermon ANd I behelde an other bea●● c●●●●● vp out of the Earth and he had two hornes like a lambe and he spake as did the Dragon The Apostle S. Paule playnely testifieth What is th ende of this prophecie Rom. 15. such thinges as are written to be written for our learnyng that through the patience consolation of the scriptures we maye haue hope wherfore we must also applie therunto these things present For Christ the lord of all when he foresawe how greatly sathan should by his chosen membres the olde and newe Romane Empire afflicte the church would haue vs dilligently admonished of euery thing to the intent that al afflicted persones should hereof learne patience and conceaue comforte and hope and not be discouraged with the heauy burthen of euilles Like as he hath therfore diligently described the olde Romane Empire and shewed as it were p●yntyng with the fingar what mischief it should worke to the church admonisshed al to haue faith patience right so wil he from hence forth describe poperie or Antichristianisme in the which descriptiō he setteth forth before our eyes what so euer the sainctes shall suffer that beyng warned before they maye abide more manfully persecution and lesse yelde to mischauntes The secōd beaste cometh not forth tyll the first be taken awaye And in goodly order beginneth he to sette forth Antichrist after the Romane Empire torne and taken awaye For Daniel sayeth that a little and small horne shoulde arrise vp emonges the ten hornes and three of those hornes to poole downe plucke of and caste awaye and so to atteyne vnto greate power For he signifieth that the Romane Empire beyng diuided and brought now vnto decaie Antichrist shal arrise whiche should procure to himselfe a newe and countrefet Empire And S. Paule sayeth also that Christe shall not come vnto iudgement till Antichrist haue gone before and that he shall not come nother vnlesse this be firste taken awaye whiche hindereth and letteth that he can not come The whiche S. Hierome and other holy expositours do vnderstande of the Romane Empire 2. Thess 2. whiche muste be plucked vp and taken awaye and that then shall Antichrist arrise But the Maiestie of the Empire was distroyed aboute the yere of our Lorde .480 when Odacer inuaded Rome For from that time by the space of .300 yeres and more ther was no Emperour of the Weste after Augustulus And besides this vnder the Emperour Iustinian Rome was brente and layde waste of Totila Sins the whiche time the Bisshoppes of Rome haue begonne to loke a lofte and to thinke vpon a newe kingedome The secōd beaste of the Earth And therefore the Lorde sayeth that this beaste arriseth of the very earth The kyngedome of our lorde Iesus Christe cometh from heauen and bringeth to heauen Papistrie cometh nother of Christ nor of his doctrine but cometh out of the Earth that is to witte of euill meanes Ambition auarice treason and crueltie What ministers of the churche Christ ordeyned is easely perceyued by the Gospell of Iesu Christ That he forbadde them gouernement supremacie superiorite and maioritie as they terme it appereth of the .18 and .20 chapt of S. Matthew and .22 of Luk● Therefore do the Actes of Apostles and the doctrine of Peter testifie that Peter was a Minister and not Lorde of the Apostles muche lesse Prince of the citie or Empire of Rome For they lye lowde that saye howe Rome and Italy are the Patrimonie of S. Peter geuen him of the Lorde At the first the Apostles and Apostolicall men ministers of churches gouerned the churches equallye neyther ded one take vpon him more preheminence than an other Which thyng I am able to proue by many testimonies of auncient wryters yf nede requyred Aboute the counsell of Nice and a litle before that tyme when churches were greatly multiplied were ordeyned and custumably receyued Metropolitanes instituted in dede by a laudable but yet mannes ordinaunce that is to witte in a certen prouince or head citie was ordeyned a Byshop or Pastor which shoulde haue as it were thē ouersighte of the reste and shoulde serue for the calling of Synodes or assemblees Yet was it than dilligently prouided that he shoulde not be called Primate leeste any manne should thinke himselfe preferred before others in power but in order Nother was the Byshop of Rome at that tyme exalted aboue all others but there were dyuerse Metropolitanes whereof the byshop Rome was one The Niceyue counsell confyrmed that same custome and woulde haue it ratified Socrates in his ecclesiastical Historie the .5 boke the .8 chapt reciteth many Metropolitane churches in Asia S. Hierome to Euagrius and in an epistle to Titus sayeth playnely that in oulde tyme churches were gouerned by the common counsell of priestes or elders and that time Byshops and priestes were all one After by the custome of the church not of the veritie of the Lordes ordinaūce I rehearce Saincte Hieromes wordes Byshops were preferred before priestes yet muste they gouerne churches together And of that same custome Howe the Bisshop of rome came to his supremacie yea rather of the abuse of the custome Antichrist had his beginning For Boniface Bishop of Rome began fyrste to take vppon him dominion ouer the churches of Affricke But he was immediatelye repressed by the sixte Affricane coūcell where at Sainte Austen is red also to haue bene After that began also the Byshop of Cōstantinople to chalenge to himselfe the Supremacie for this cause chiefelie that Constantinople was than the courtelyke Palace and chiefe Citie of the Empyre Howe beit

greued and oppressed the more feruently and lowder they crie and that also they be called clamorouse criers What the Aungell preacheth Moreouer he compriseth in a briefe some what thinges are to be set forth in the preaching of the gospel chiefly in the laste times First he sayeth feare God The feare of God is the beginning of wisedome therfore not to feare God is the beginnyng of foolishenes The feare of God of al errours The feare of God hath nothing comon with the feare of the world The godly man is not affrayed of God as a gilty seruaunt feareth his maister and that more punnisshment than his maister whō he hateth rather For the feare of God hath the reuerēce and loue of God It attributeth to God the supreme Maiestie imbraceth faith and hath a faithful care wherby it awayteth vpon God worshippeth prayseth and professeth the same Doubtles because we more feare men than God we feare more the Pope and the mallice and hatred of him and his therefore do we not execute iustice vprightly nor professe the trewth frankely nother yet set forth the gospel But the lord in the Gospel sayeth feare ye not them which maye kill the body haue no power ouer the soule rather feare ye him which condemneth both body soule to hell fire Certes the feare of God is not only the beginnyng but also the bonde of al vertue Hereafter we shall heare that the feareful shal be caste into hel with the beaste with the false prophet Therfore let God be our feare like as Esaye teacheth in the .8 cha Let vs feare God for our sinnes committed Here fewe are affraide but many are affraide to speake the trueth to mainteyne godlines and to rebuke wickednes Secondely the preachyng of the Gospell comprehendeth the honour of God For he sayeth and geue him honour the honour of God And thou doest not seperate the sonne from the father For he in the .5 of Iohn sayeth thus the father hath geuē al iudgement to the sonne that al shuld honour the sonne as thei honour the father He that honoureth not the sonne honoureth not the father which sent him And in very dede the father cā not be honoured but by the sonne For we honour him when we beleue him to be true receyue Christ the sonne of God as the only rightuousnes perfection of al faithful By faith therfore chiefly we honour God than reuerēcyng him only by faithful obedience walking in his commaundementes S. Iohn in his Canonic he that beleueth not the sonne sayeth he maketh God a liar see howe ye maye highly dishonour God which beleueth not the testimony which God hath testified of his sonne And this is the testimony that God hath geuē to vs eternal life this life is in his sonne He that hath the sonne hath life he that hath not the sonne hath not life We are therefore forbidden els where than in Christ alone to seke life al goodnes But the papistes honour the Pope and his cōstitutions his Sainctes also and honour not God alone They in graue in theyr cuppes Soli deo gloria to God alone be glory but yet in the meane season thei persecute thē whiche will not ascribe the glory dewe to God alone vnto their folish trifles But the Gospell wil crie out that to God alone al glory is dewe Hereunto is added a spurre The iudgemēt of the sonne of God whiche maye pricke them to feare glorifie God for the houre of his iudgement is come The Gospel therefore in the latter dayes shal beate into men the last iudgement This hath a wonderful effecte to obteine of men amendement of life And it is pourposely sayed it is come and not the houre of his iudgement shal come For so is the certentie of his iudgement expressed and we are warned to loke for that same daye euery moment The Apostle vsed the same argument in the .17 chapt of the Actes to them of Athens and to the Corinth the .2 Epist 5. chapt Lette vs remembre O bretherne that strayte iudgement let vs amende our faith and maners and al thinges that agree not with the gospell For certenly we shal die certenly we shal be iudged But then when we shal promise our selues peace shall come sodayne destruction Watche To worship God Finally the Gospell teacheth to worshippe God alone Than doe not the faithfull worshippe Idolles to whome so euer they be erected They worship not the Pope ouerwhelmed with wickednesse much lesse doe they kisse and by kissinge worshippe his vngraciouse and stinkyng fete They worshippe not the God Mauzim of the wafer makers Daniel 11. the God in the boxe which is worshipped in palaces churches as shutte vp in the pixe They worshippe not Sainctes but God alone Therefore lifte vp your hartes vnto heauen and worshippe We haue here in Earth wōderful workes which maie moue vs to worshippe this God alone He is maker of heauen and Earth and of the See Who is greater who is mightier Therefore worshippe him the trewe God Matth. 4. He annexeth here fountaynes of water for that the miracle and benefite of waters is greate For if we consider the originall sprynge substaunce pleasauntenes and commoditie of fountaynes we shal be compelled to wonder God be praysed ¶ An other Angell preacheth that Babilon shall fal and an other diswadeth all men from the felloweshippe of the religion of the beaste The .lxiiij. Sermon ANd there followed an other Aungel saiyng she is fallen she is fallen euen Babylon that greate Citie for she made all nations drinke of the wine of her whoredome And the thirde Angell followed them sayeng with a loude voyce yf any man worship the beast and his Image and receiue his marke in his forehead or on his hand the same shall drinke of the wyne of the wrath of God which is powred in the cup of his wrath And he shal be punished in fyre brimstone before the holy Angels and before the Lambe and the smoke of their tourmente ascendeth vp euermore And thei haue no rest day nor night which worship the beast and his Image and whosoeuer receyued the prynte of his name Here is the patience of Saincts Here ar thei that kepe the cōmaundements and the faith of Iesu For the comfort of the faithful flocke of Christ ❀ The Romysh Churche shall fal is brought forth an other Aungell a type of all godly preachers which preacheth with great constancie that the kyngdome of Anti-Christ shall fall howe soeuer it promiseth to it selfe euerlastingnesse And hereof the Sainctes gather that persecutions shall with all be finisshed with all other abominations through out the worlde For where for the continuall persecutions of the wicked all the Saincts cannot but be maruelouselye sadde They muste nedes verely hereof receyue no small ioye and comforte that they here howe they shall not indure alwayes and here it is sayed that Babilon shall fall

Romish church shall be damned who am I to say the cōtrary or what men will pronoūce otherwyse Let vs heare therfore the sentence of the iuste iudge and let vs beleue the worde of the sonne of God and let vs beware of the popysh religion What it is to worship the beaste his Image and what it is to receiue the marke in the forehead and on the right hand I haue sufficiently declared before in the .13 chapt Brieflye they worship and receyue the marke of the beaste which do participate with the Popish church or religiō finally which obey the wycked decrees of the Empire and perseuer in the obedience of the See without repentaunce Aretas expounding this place to worship the beast saieth he and to receaue his seale is to esteme Antichrist to be God and in word and wo●ke to set forth such thinges as he coueteth And here in an horrible wise with propheticall wordes The descriptiō of eternall damnatiō is described euerlasting damnation prepared for them who forsaking Christ the sauiour cleaue vnto Antichrist the distroier Like as they haue dronkē of the corrupte doctrine infused of the Pope so againe shal they drinke that the iust lord shal powre out of the cuppe of wrath And the wine that is powred in the cuppe of Gods wrath is the strayte exquisite moste greuouse iudgement of God wherin beyng angrie he inflicteth to the Antichristians horrible vnspeakeable punnishement A like maner of speach is red in Ieremie the .25 chapt And like as pure wine not delayed is of most efficacitie and pearseth so the iudgement of God wherein he will procede against the Antichristians shal be most greuouse such as no tongue be it neuer so eloquent can expresse And for a further declaratiō shortely after followeth what they muste drinke of verely fire and brimstone Perauenture the Lorde alluded to these wordes of Dauid in the .11 Psalm Vpō the vngodly he shal rayne snares fyre brimstone storme and tempeste this rewarde shall they haue to drinke He semeth moreouer to haue alluded to the burnyng of Sodome and to the .30 chapt of Esaye in the ende whereof is shewed that hell shall be wide enough to receyue all the vngodly and that matter shal neuer waunte to nurrishe the fire neuer to be quenched He expresseth moreouer a greuouse payne where he sayeth that they shall be tourmented and that in the sight of the lambe and holy Angelles that so they maye receyue condigne punnishement for euer of their contempte wherby they haue despised the lambe and messages of Angels Likewise in the .13 of Luke the Lord sayeth there shal be wepyng and gnashing of teth when ye shal see Abraham Isaac and Iacob and all the prophetes in the kingedome of God and you to be shutte out c. And that same apperteyneth also vnto euidence Hipotiposis to stire vp a terrour in the mindes of all men where he addeth by a figuratiue speach and the smoke of their tourmēt ascendeth vp euermore Therfore shal the burning and punnisshement of the vngodly be euerlasting and neuer to be finished world without ende And we seme here at this description as it were before our eyes to see the flames of eternall damnation caried vp on highe and caste vp with them greate heapes of smoke to rolle vp and disperse them farre and wide I remēbre here that of Virgill The wastefull fire gan crepe and cracke a pace Til to the toppe through helpe of winde it came Out burst the blase brake downe and did deface The skie flieth full of sparkes of smoke and flame Euerlastyng punnisshment And that no kinde of terrour might waunte moste aptely and most aboundantly he expresseth the perpetuitie of euerlasting punnishment saiyng nother haue they reste daie nor night So sayeth the Lord in the .9 of Marke Their fire is neuer quēched and their worme shal neuer die They erre therfore which promise to the damned after many worldes deliueraunce from their tourmentes And not in vayne he repeteth that which he had sayed before how thei that worship the beast shal suffer these thinges And therfore he repeteth it leste as it happened we should esteme it as a light matter They shal be damneth sayeth the veritie which receyue the Popish culte and religiō and perseuere in the same Epiphonema To all this is annexed an acclamation or double sentence notable and holesome For in as much as the wisedome of God did foresee what aduersitie remayned for the godly in this world which they might surely loke for at Antichristes hande whiche professed the trewth therefore for a comforte and consolation he addeth here is the patiēce of Sainctes which is asmuch as if he had saied and here shal patience take place wherby the Sainctes maye ouercome al euilles Here had we nede to haue a stoute courage a sure and cōstaunt minde In the .12 of Luke the Lord likewise requireth patience in persecutions Here therfore is counsel geuen howe the sainctes should behaue themselues to wit that they should suffer patiently those euilles that Antichrist shall worke agaynst them And there followeth an other sentence which lighteth this here are they that kepe the commaundementes of God and faith of Iesus Thei shal ouercome thorowe patience in so great euilles and daungers whiche kepe the cōmaundementes of God the foundation wherof is the faith of Iesus Christ which verely put al their trust in christ heare the worde of the gospell and kepe the cōmaundemētes of God not of men The like vnto these are red in the .24 of Matth. and the .10 to the Hebrew Aretas in this same time of Antichrist saieth he the patience of Sainctes is shewed Thā is the speache figured as it were by a question moued And who be they whome he calleth patient After as though he should aunswere they that kepe the commaundementes of God and faith of Iesu For thei when perilles approche wil set more by God than by death and temporall euilles This sayeth he I praye God these things be as faithfully perfourmed of vs as they are easely vnderstande The Lorde graunt vs his spirite ¶ The faithfull assuredly and streight waye flitte from the corporal death vnto life euerlastyng The .lxv. Sermon ANd I hearde a voice from heauen saiyng vnto me wryte blessed are the dead whiche hereafter die in the Lorde Yea the sprite sayeth that they reste frō their labours But theyr workes follow them Albeit he hath oftener thā ones spokē of the state of soules in an other world Of the certayne saluation of the faithful and of the felicitie of the faithfull which are killed for religions sake yet was it here chiefly requisite to treate of the same matter For I sayed howe many must be killed of the beaste Now leeste they for feare of death should chouse rather to worshippe the beaste than to be slayne leest happly hauyng lost this life there were no other life

to be loked for in the world to come most dilligently and most certenly he treateth of the state of soules and of the felicitie and blesse of soules which as sone as they die they atchieue assuredly and streightwaye flitting out of this worlde into life euerlasting But they that know these thinges and haue conceaued them by a true faith how thei shal vndoubtedly slitte frō the corporal death into the blessed life it can not be chosen but that they shal more boldely contemne the life present Most certē tables of saluation are to vs exhibited And this holesome doctrine is comprised in three poincts For first he sheweth the certentie therof secōdly he declareth what it is laste he setteth forth and lighteth the same by circūstaunces At the first verely he semeth to allude to the maner accustomably receyued of al nations that such thinges as they wuld haue thought to be certen and vndoubted they would also cōmitte to writing to leaue them vnto posteritie But the certentie veritie or Authoritie of the thing is estemed of thauthours which first haue dispatched any matters emonges thēselues and after haue caused the same to be put in writyng At this present therfore is God shewed to be authour For S. Iohn saieth and I hearde a voice from heauen And by and by addeth ye the spirite sayeth Therefore there is no doubte but that the sonne of God him self hath spoken and reuealed these things Our lord Iesus Christ For him he sawe at the beginning of this reuelation after he seeth diuerse kindes of Aungelles but he seeth not Christ speaking to him But he heareth now his voice from Heauen he heareth the spirite speakyng by whom the lord sayed whilest he was yet cōuersaunt in earth with his disciples that he would treate and speake al thinges in the churche Let vs beleue therefore that the wordes which are here recited by christes doyng to be a celestiall oracle certen and trewe whereof we ought not to doubte And S. Iohn thapostle Euangelist is cōmaūded to write the saiynges of Christ from the heauēly seate Which thing he doeth so at Christes cōmaundement sendeth them vnto al posterie vnto vs also to our ofspring euen to the worldes ende But if tables written by the chaūcelours or secretaries of kinges and Princes beyng notable men deserue credit we maye much more iustely rightly beleue this writing which the sonne of God inditeth from heauen that beloued disciple of Christ the apostle and Euangelist S. Iohn writeth Thou hadst ones a confidence in the Popes bulles they maye well be called bulles sins thei be more vaine than bulles or blabbers in the water sent from the See of Rome wherein thou as one assured didst put ful truste to haue remission of sinnes and blessed life And shalt thou not nowe be accompted madde and out of thy witte in case thou wilt not beleue this heauenly writyng That other was indited by the spirite of Antichrist by the Pope the man of sinne and childe of perdition written of some disceauer infected with Simony and sacrilege which in life and maners was filthines it self But in Iohn is nothing but cleanes puretie integritie and the very sonne of God which prescribeth these things to S. Iohn is the very veritie and life This writing is frely geuen the light of the world lord of heauen and Earth of life death See than how safely thou mayest laine to this heauenly writyng which here is offered geuen thee frely Thou nedest not to disburce for the same one farthing The Pope instituted in the church biyng selling deuelish bargayning about perdōs other things which were plaine disceiptes illusions playne mocheries and open blasphemies therfore accursed for euer as S. Peter also pronoūceth in the .8 of the Actes God him selfe diswadeth al men from such tromperies and bargaines wicked vayne in the .55 chapt of Esaye where he promiseth agayne that he wil geue to the godly al plentie of al good thinges And now let vs heare what the writte is Blessed at the dead whiche die in the lord what S. Iohn is cōmaunded from heauen to put in writing It is a shorte sentēce as also in many places the wisedome of God cōprehēdeth in fewe wordes the true some of blessednes so prouiding for our infirmitie that we nede not to cōplaine that the doctrine were ouer longe which we with our slender vnderstandyng are not able to attayne to The Lord therefore pronounceth them to be blessed whiche die in the Lord then we must see what he vnderstandeth by blessednes and who thei be that die in the lord blessednes is that high felicitie which chaunceth to the faithfull in an other world in the which we shall see God him selfe as he is and haue the fruition of him vnto a ioyefull and neuer lothsomefulnes We shall liue in the same with all the Sainctes for euer and shall haue ioynes that can not be expressed with tunges of men Of the whiche shall followe more afterwarde They shal reste from their labours And more plentifully in the .21 chapt And they dye in the Lorde whiche by faith greffed in Christe layne to him alone depende wholy vpon him only regarde him and desire nothynge els but hym alone For they are sayed to liue in Christe in whome Christ liueth by faith they that liue in Christ do frame their whole life after the will of Christ And they die in the lord chiefly and before all whiche for the confession of the lordes faith suffer death and offer thēselues to tourmentes And not they alone but those also whiche although they die of the sworde of the persecutours yet die when the Lorde calleth them in the trewe christen fayth For these are also blessed as the Lord in S. Iohn verely verely I saye vnto you yf any man kepe my worde he shall not see death for euer Howebeit they die not in the lorde which eyther deny god that they might not be slaine or trust to their owne merites intercessions of Sainctes or to other mens workes be they monkes freres or massemonging priestes and so departe out of this life thinking that thei shal be holpen by other mēs workes To be briefe the veritie of the lord pronoūceth them al blessed and fortunate which departe out of this world in true faith Finally the Lord him self adioyneth a notable declaration of this his briefe sentence For he sette forth the circumstaūce of the time When and how saluation commeth to the dead and the maner of the blessednes For it is wonte to be demaunded what time saluatiō and felicitie happeneth to the dead whether incontinently or after a time that is whether our soules flitte by and by and immediately after the death of the body to the blessed seates or whether they be intercepted for a certen time so that they might be pourged in purgatorie before thei enter into

fulfilled For on those laste and most corrupte ages the Lorde wil powre out his plague and that the plagues of his iuste wrath and shall powre them out most fully to the ende and shall execute his ful wrath against the vngodly for euermore Yet now he suspendeth a while that narration begonne of the Angelles masters of the plagues The ioyes triūphes of the godly and placeth or sendeth before the greate ioyes of the blessed Martirs triumphes songe of praise reioycynge and thankes geuynge And this Ioye is interlased here in the treatise of punnishementes for the consolation of the faithful that they should knowe themselues deliuered from punnishmentes And if it fortune whilest the wicked are punnisshed that any displeasure touch thē also as it can not be chosen but the wicked beyng plaged some discōmoditie must also arrise vnto the faithful that thei maye vnderstande yet that the daungers of the discōmodities must with the excellent aboūdaunce of ioyes be recompensed For hereby is signified how the godly reioyce whilest the lord executeth his iustice To be also the chaungeable course of thinges that those that haue ones wepte in the world should now be glad and ioyefull accordyng to the saiyng of our sauiour in the .16 of Iohn Morouer it behoued by the testimony of all Sainctes to be declared to the Sainctes that dwell in Earth that the iudgementes of God be rightouse and true whiche thing vnderstande questions and sondry mutininges agaynst God do cease First he seeth them which ouercame Antichrist and haue had nothing to doe with him as we saye in dutch for this I suppose be signified by that plentiful rehersal of certen membres the declaration wherof is setforth before in heauen not in some dortour or no where as some men gather He sawe I saye in heauen the blessed soules stande vpon a glassy See A glassy See mixed with fire mixed with fire And in an other place I haue tolde you that the See figureth the worlde by reason of the rage and vnstablenes therof Certenly Daniel so taketh in the .7 chapt And it is called glassy because of the frailetie and bricklenes For worldely thinges shine but they are soone broken Whereupon it is sayed that wordely things are as brickel as glasse whiche whilest they shine breake And not with out cause is fire mixed with worldely thinges For the Sainctes whilest they be conuersaunt in Earth fele alwayes in a maner the fire of affliction Whereof spake S. Peter 1. Pet. 4. And they stande vpon a glassy See mingled with fire For cōquerours treade vpon the worlde and vpon al the tourmentes mockeries of the world as triūphyng ouer all worldely thinges The Prophet in the .66 Psalm bringeth in the Sainctes singyng a ioyeful songe vnto God and emonges other things saiyng thou hast brought vs into snares thou hast layde tribulations vpon our backe thou haste set men in our neckes We haue passed through fire and water thou hast brought vs out into a place of reliefe Therefore do there followe alterations in an other world Wherfore Aretas expoūdyng this place the glassy See sayeth he semeth to intimace nothyng els than by the Sea verely the multitude and by the glasse the brightnes by fire the puretie of them which are worthie that blessed life And certenly the same wordes in diuerse respectes maye signifie diuerse thinges and make the sense agreable Hitherto we haue hearde that the sainctes are in heauen where they triumphe ouer the world vanquisshed but nowe we shal heare more clerely what they do in heauen and how they singe vnto the lord a songe of thankes prayses which fully agreeth with the Psalm 66. The harps of God And he attributeth to the blessed martirs harpes as he did to the Elders These he calleth of God as you would saye diuine and celestiall mete to set forth the prayses of God For a celestial Iubeley is signified whereof is spoken in the .5 chapt He addeth moreouer to expresse the musicke and they singe And declareth also the maner of their singyng The songe of Moses the lābe the songe of Moses the seruaunt of God and the songe of the Lambe Therfore this songe of the Sainctes is reioycyng ditty triumphaunt and of thankes geuyng For like as in times paste Marie with the cōpany of virgins Israeliticall at the appoinctement of Moses sange a songe when the Israelites were deliuered out of the bondage of Aegypte and Pharao was drowned in the red Sea with his whole armie whereof you maye reade more in the 14. and .15 chapt of Exod. So the blessed soules in Heauen prayse God whiche hath deliuered them from Sathan Antichrist and the worlde And the songe of the Lābe is the christiane thankes geuing by the which the vertue of Christ and his redemption is praysed of the Sainctes For like as the olde fathers after the eatyng of the Paschalle lambe made a iubiley gaue God thankes So the blessed Sainctes nowe infraunchised with the full libertie of the children of God geue thankes vnto Christ theyr deliuerer Finally reciteth the order and fourme of their songe Kinge of Sainctes God is highly commended herein which is called the Lord God almightie Kynge of Sainctes as for whome the Sainctes warre by whome also they be gouerned and whiche defendeth mayneteyneth and kepeth the Sainctes And he is called holy in whome is no spotte no iniquitie And before all thinges they prayse his workes whiche they call greate and maruelouse These are manifest in Heauen and in Earth They declare the power wisedome iustice of God Therefore they inferre by and by that the wayes that is the considerations of God which he followeth in gouerning and doyng of thinges be trewe and iuste For he disceaueth not he doeth no man wronge Therfore God is iuste in punnishing the Antichristiās and deliueryng his For although he seme to neglecte his yet kepeth he fayth to the godly as a kynge that neuer neglecteth his Now they alledge what it becometh all men in the Earth to do also it is reoson that al men feare thee and glorifie thee in all thinges nother to accuse and murmure at thy iudgementes There is added an other reason for he alone is holy without sinne and with out spotte None of all the creatures hath this Although many gentiles nowe cōtemne God yet shal they ones come and worship shal knowe their owne filthines and the holines and rightuousenes of God For the iustice and iudgement of God whiche are not yet reuealed and therefore are contemned shal be ones reuealed that all the godly of al natiōs may attribute glory to the rightuouse God These thinges verely prepare also the reader and hearer to the treatise nowe followynge concernynge the iudgementes of God and pūnishmentes of the vngodly The lord open the eyes of our mindes that we maye see these thinges with fruicte plentifull ¶ The seuen Angelles are described coming forth to execute the seuen

the glory of God and saluation of soules be preached with lowde voyces howe so euer the worlde prohibiteth and persecuteth the same And lette them obserue those thinges whiche thinke that menne maye be restreyned by proclamations fire and sworde that they shall not with voyce moste clere preache agaynste Antichrist The fooles are disceaued They houe fought and contended herin these sixe hondreth yeres and more nother could any man though he raged neuer so fiersely brynge this preachyng a slepe It breaketh out many times and pearseth farre euen at this daye also through out the whole worlde therefore the glory of this Angel is yet euer shal be shinyng and bright and his voyce and preachyng most strōg though the Popes guttes burste Now followeth the prophecie of thaungel She is fallen she is fallen Babilon the some wherof is Rome shall perishe neyther shall any steppe of her be lefte This vttereth he prophetically as he did also in the .14 chapt She is fallen she is fallen greate Babilon She is fallen he sayde for shal falle puttyng the time paste for the certentie of the thing for the time to come whereunto the doublyng also apperteineth Likewise spake the Prophetes Macrobius marueleth at the wonderfull breuitie of Vergill And emonges other things in the first chapt of the .5 boke of Saturnalles wilt thou heare Virgill sayeth he speakynge wyth so muche breuitie that breuitie it selfe can be no more straitely hampered and drawen together And feldes where Troye was beholde howe in very fewe wordes he hathe supped offe a mightie greate Citie And hath lefte no ruine at all Hitherto Macrobius These thinges shal we more trewly and more rightly applie vnto our Prophetes moste eloquent in their tunge chiefly to S. Iohn For what could be thought more briefe than that which he sayed she is fallen she is fallen great Babilon For S. Iohn both expressed the greatnes and maiestie of the citie and swallowed it vp whole no ruine at al lefte for he signified that both olde and newe Rome although it seme stoute inuincible and eternall yet shal it fall and so fall that nothing thereof shal be lefte Which shortely after he setteth before our eyes more expressely by a certen Chria whilest the Angel takyng vp a milstone and casting it into the bottome of the Sea addeth thus or with such a violence shal Babilon that great citie be ouerthrowen shal be founde no more Therefore was there neuer any thing is or shal be in the worlde so mightie or vnpregnable whiche the inuincible power of God can not bring to naught when he will and when the fatall howre is come Olde Rome is loste and that mightie monarchie decayed there is fallē also the superstition and Idolatrie of the heythen that hath reigned many yeres newe Rome shal perish also with her Imaginarie Empire the kingedome also of the Pope or Antichrist which hath longe a sotted and plagued the worlde shall falle and fade with smoke Morouer by a figuratiue speach taken out of the prophetes And it is made the habitatiō of deuilles he sheweth the maner of the destruction by consequēces and is become the habitation of Deuilles c. For so hereby he signifieth that it shall be destroyed that the place whiche was before much frequented of men shal be now the habitation of wilde beastes and deuelles delighting in wildernes as our lord also testifieth in the .12 of Matth. And he alluded to the wordes of the Prophetes Esaye in the .13 chapt And Babilon the beaultie of realmes shal be ouerthrowen as the Lord subuerted Sodome and Gomorrha it shal not be inhabited but beastes shal there take there rest and the satires or heerry shal there leape The same thinges are repeted also in the .50 of Ieremie And in the .51 he sayeth babilō shal be in heapes an habitation for Dragons a wōder and a hissing that no mā may dwel there Not much vnlike things are red in the .26 of Ezech. of the subuersion of Tyru● And that olde Rome was destroyed I shewed before and for the space of fourtie daies and more inhabited of no man And that we see it inhabited agayne it letteth nothing the veritie of Christes prophecie For Fraunces Petrarche an Italian and emonges the best learned Italians not hindermoste in a certen epistle to a frende expoūding these wordes of the Apostle S. Iohn emonges other thinges sayeth thou art verely become such already for how much better is a wicked man and of desperate doynges than a deuill verely thou art become the habitation or rather kingdome of Deuelles which by their craftes albeit in mās shape raigne in thee c. Petrarche liued and wrote these thinges aboute two hondreth yeres sin● And in an other certen epistle speakyng of olde and newe Babilon she was sayeth he worste of al others and at that time most filthie and this nowe is no Citie but an house of findes and spretes and to be shorte the sinke of all sinne and shame and that helle of the liuyng signified longe before by the mouth of Dauid than it was founded or knowen And the selfe same agayne what so euer thou haste red of Babilon in Assiria or Aegipte what so euer thou hastered of the foure Labyrinthes or Mazes finally what so euer thou haste red of the waye to hell of the darke wordes there and laques of fire and brimstone compared to this hell it is a fable here is that prowde and terrible Nimroth here is Semiramis with her quiuer here is vnmercifull Minos here is Rhadamante here is Cerberus deuouryng al thinges here is Pasiphae put to the bulle amōgrelle kinde as Virgill sayeth a yonge of double shape Minotaurus by name a monstrouse monymēt of vnlaweful lust Finally here mayest thou see what so euer is confused what so euer is blacke what so euer is or may be fayned horrible hugly c. These things hath he many other moe like these writtē in other epistles But what thinke you wold he write nowe yf he sawe the courte of Rome at this daye whiche is doubtles many wayes more corrupte than it was than Briefly S. Iohn signifieth after the sentence of Christ kyng and iudge that Rome both olde and newe together with gētilisme and Antichristianisme shall perish vtterly and neuer be restored agayne The causes before ones or twise rehersed he repeteth and beateth in againe The causes of the ruine of the citie empire vngodlines idolatrie seducing of al people nations whom they haue cōmpelled by tourmentes to receiue impietie Where crueltie tirāny and bloud also hath place I spake of the wine of whoredome before in the .14 cha and elswhere so that it nedeth not to repete the same againe with tediousenes And herunto is added an other new cause and the marchauntes of the Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the power or plētie of her pleasures were made rich And he saied of the power of pleasure

and all maner vessels of moste preciouse wood and of brasse and of Iron and Synamon and odours and oyntmentes and frankensence wyne and oyle and fyne flowre and wheate and cattel and shepe and horses and charets and bodies soules of men And the Apples that thy soule lusted after are departed from the. And al things which wer deinty and had in price are departed from thee and thou shalt fynde them nomore The Marchauntes of these thinges which were waxed rich by her shall stande a farre of for feare of the punnishment of her weping and waylinge and saieng alas alas that great Citie that was clothed in silke and purple and scarlet and decked with golde and preciouse stone and pearles for at one howre so great riches is come to naught And euerye shyppe gouernour and all theye that occupy ships and shipmen which worke in in the sea stode a farre of and cryed when they saw the smoke of her burning and said what citie is lyke vnto this great citie And they caste duste on their heads and cryed wepyng and wayling and saied Alas alas the greate Citie wherein were made rich al that had shyppes in the Sea by the reason of her wares for at one houre is she made desolate A lamentation wayling ouer Rome In the fourth place of this chapter followeth the weping or waylinge or lamentation of Rome brent and destroyed The coppie is plentifull and maruaylouse by an euident Hipotiposis settinge all thinges before our eyes And our Lord God hath alwayes a familier manner that what tyme he wyll euidentelye shewe before and fixe in the heartes of all men the ouerthrowe or destruction of a nation Kingdome or Citie he wyll commaunde his Prophetes to syng an elegie or lamentable song And in such kynde of lamentations is shewed not onely the subuersion but also the causes of destruction and maner of desolation are rehersed the end also or vse is declared leest others be made lyke vnto that nation and become partakers of the destruction We haue manifest examples in the wrytinges of the Prophetes especiallye the lamentations of Ieremye and the whych agree better to this place the dolefull dittie of Tyrus songe of Ezechiell in the .27 and .28 chapters And verely it appeareth that S. Ihon hath borowed many thinges from thence Nother is there any matter here to busy our selues much aboute The some of all is this Rome shall fall and perish vtterlie that there shoulde be nothing lefte eyther of the Empyre or of that See much lesse of the riches and pleasures The which was partlye fulfilled in oulde Rome and partlye shall be fulfilled in the newe at the daye of iudgement Howbeit nother Christ himself Kings and marchātes mourne nor the Apostle is brought in bewayling the subuersion of Babilon but wicked persōnes are induced which are firste to be cōsidered For they be Kynges and Princes of the Earth marchauntes or gouernours of ships or mariners which haue all cōmitted whoredome with this strumpet and by her companye haue bene made rich And verely ould Rome was furnished with the amities of Kynges and agayne the presidentes sent of them to gouerne Prouinces semed euery one to be Kynges and Princes And for asmuche as the riches of Rome were great and all states were wonderfully set a ryot the marchauntes there gote exceading much gaigne Moreouer ther was sayling to Rome oute of the Easte South and Weste I meane out of Syria and Aegipte or Affricke and out of Spayne it selfe and vttermoste partes of the worlde But what tyme Rome beyng destroyed lay ruinouse and the Empyre was rente in pieces they coulde not but lamente whose lucre and pleasure was lost Newe Rome hath also besydes those temporal The marchaunts of new Rome euen peculier marchauntes and Princes of her owne For the prelates of the church be Princes And in the church of Rome all the Sainctes of God knowe howe to occupie the traffique of marchaundyse For what holy thing is not to be boughte in that seat Marchaūdise is practised in forgeuenes of sinnes in pardons and satisfactōs in ecclesiastical benefices in worshipping of Images and Sainctes in masses in burialles in sayeng diriges for the dead and almoste in all spirituall matters Hereof cometh an vnmeasurable gaigne and the greateste occasion of pleasures Other marchaūtes bye their ware very dere the Romish Cananites pay not one denier or farthinge for their wares but sell the same for an vnreasonable price Nother suppose I that euer there was any marchaundise lyke vnto this in all the worlde nor yet a more gaynefull lucre of a thing of naught Erasmus hath also touched these thinges in the prouerbe to aske tribute of a deade man And where as before the day of iudgement the Lorde Christ shall destroy Antichrist with the spirite of his mouth and that gaigne begynneth to be minished we see howe euery where emonges these spirituall marchaunts complaints and grudgynges arryse Than what maner of lamentation and wayling thinke ye that wyll be where the same Lorde by his coming shal vtterly abolish the same Antichrist and they must go in to fyre euerlastinge Agayne we muste somewhat also consider the mourning To mourne of it selfe is no sin For the beste and holyest men haue lamēted their dead and their calamities destructiō of cities and realmes For Abraham mourned The lamētations also of Ieremye remaine ouer the citie of Hierusalē The faithful mourned with a great mourninge for Stephen in the Actes Howebeit in the lamentation they kepte a meane and referred all thinge to the glory of God and saluatiō of foules The vngodly and worldly men do not mourne after this sort They neuer remēber the sines of men for the whiche the righteouse Lorde punnisheth the world nother do they referre the euylles of them and theirs to the glory veritie and iustice of God or amēdment of maners therefore are they not sory that God is offended nor requyre forgeuenes of sinnes but it greueth them that occasion of sinninge is taken from them that their pleasures and lucre is past And nowe wayle Princes marchaūts and mariners not for the fauoure of God loste not of true compassion or loue of their neighbour but for loue of themselues for the losse of earthly things for the destruction of goodly auncient strong and preciouse things but chiefly for their lucre loste and pleasures taken away The Apostle maketh mention of eyther grefe in the seconde to the Corrinthians the .7 chapter And surely this sorrowe and mourning is nothing els but a descriptiō and a shaddowing of a moste certen and greateste destruction and that of men vngodly And ful well and pourposely doeth he set forth the wayling both in the behauiour of the mourners also by their woordes To their gesture apperteyneth that they wepe wayle crye oute and caste dust on their heads To their wordes are referred these thinges wo wo alas alas that great citie c. The whiche

of God by no merite of manne For the same Apostle in the same Epistle to the Rom. the .6 chapter The rewarde sayeth he of sinne is death and where on the contrary side he shoulde haue sette and the merite of rightuousenes eternal life for this membre he placeth rather and the gifte of God is life euerlastyng And addeth incontinently through Christ Iesus our Lorde Therefore S. Iohn sayeth rightly that eternall life happeneth to the faithfull frely that is by the very grace of God Saluatiō cōmeth to vs freely And of this vocable freely through the merite of Christ and by no deserte of man For if we coulde by our workes rightuousenes deserue eternall life than Christ had died in vaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for naught There was no cause why he shuld die seyng we might of our selues haue bē saued There is no effecte nor merite of Christes passion such effecte verely as it is in very dede that by the bloud of Christ alone we be purified For if there were or had ben an other meane of saluatiō Christ neded not to haue ben incarnated haue suffered And that this vocable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought after this waye and maner to be expoūded many other places of Scripture proue In the .10 of Matth. the lord saieth frely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue you receiued freely geue The lord wil not haue his Apostles to receiue any recōpence for the gifte of healing But speaking of the ministerie he sayeth the workeman is worthie his hire In the .15 of Iohn the lord sayeth they haue hated me without cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doubtles without my desert or vndeserued of my parte In the .2 Corint 11. thapostle saieth that he preached the gospel to the Corinthiās frely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he toke no rewarde or recōpēce therfore And in the .2 to the Thessal the .3 chapt nother haue I taken sayeth he bread of any man for naught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be shorte where S. Iohn sayeth that life is geuen to the faithfull free 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he claymeth al things of our saluation to the grace of God and merite of Christes passion and plucketh it from mans merittes And the same affirmeth Esaye also in the .55 chapt rebukyng folish menne spending their monie aboute thinges of naught Here ought therefore to cease the faires of indulgences and pardons and holy thinges in the church Let the Pelagians kepe silence Wh●t is required of them that be iustified frely Howbeit leest any by the free preachyng of the grace and merite of Christ agaynste the deserte of man should gather that the blessed life chaūceth to Idle folkes slepers and ceasing frō all good workes and that God alone worketh and we worke nothing but only to suffer the operation of God in vs and for the same cause nothing to be required of vs he preuenteth and first the lord sayeth that he will geue to them that are a thirste to drinke of the water of life There is required of vs therfore fayth and a feruēt desire of godly thinges not that faith is oures but is geuen of God For by thirste to signifie the faythful desire of a godly mā the Lord himselfe is authour in the .5 of Matthewe pronouncyng them blessed which honger and thirste for rightuousenes And also in the 6. of Iohn the Lorde him selfe vnderstandeth by drinkyng to beleue Faith therfore is required of vs that is that we shuld thirste for the water of life The which self thing also the lord graunteth by his spirite and word as els where we haue declared And he sayeth howe he that is freely iustified must fight also nor fight only but must ouercome Therfore the dueties of charitie be required wherof is spokē in the .2 and .3 chapt of this boke Wherein is most frequent mentiō made of this fight and victorie And God will than acknoweledge such as labour thus valeauntly for his childrē to them will he shewe him selfe a father and take them for the heyres of all their fathers possessions They are bastardely childrē which beyng idle bragge of faith prayse God with their mouth wordes and deme him with their dedes Ye see therefore that bothe muste be preached in the church that we be iustified and beautified frely so beyng iustified must worke good workes wherunto notwithstandyng as to their merites they ascribe not saluation but to the mere grace of God through Christ Whereupō consequently and on the contrary parte he reciteth who be excluded from the felowshippe of the blessed life and of the blessed compilyng a register of sinnes and of wicked men such as he hath compiled also about the ende of the .9.21 and .22 chapt And such as the Apostle hath in a maner recited to the Corinthians And we suppose that in S. Iohn his time these sinnes were moste common nor sufficiently knowen Who are excluded frō the true felicitie as apperteyned Many also at this daye iudge more lightly therof than trewe godlines permitteth And we doubte not but that in this register whiche in eight kindes or membres is comprised are conteined al other like sinnes and wickednesses But we vnderstande that helle fire is assuredly dewe vnto them for their sinnes committed whiche nother haue any faith at all nother can by any meanes be perswaded to repente and tourne vnto God For in the firste Epistle to the Corinth the 6. chapt Ye were sayeth he suche but ye are purged by the bloud of Christe and with the sprete of our God Therefore yf we haue ben suche at any tyme lette vs repente or in case we be fallen into these sinnes agayne lette vs rise vp and tourne to the Lord which calleth vnto him sinners and promiseth pardone and grace But wo be to the vncurable walkyng alwayes and without repentaunce in the waye of iniquitie And we shal touche seuerally eight partes of this register Fearefull Firste are placed the fearefull But the Lorde him selfe was affrayde and euen quaked for feare of death the Sainctes of God haue feared also and often fled for feare yet are they not for this cause condemned in the Scriptures Therefore an other feare is ment to witte that same immoderate feare by the which compelled we do for feare of menne that thing whiche God hath prohibited and we our selues conuicte in our owne consciences vnderstāde that we sinne in so doyng or what time through carnall feare we leaue vndone that thing whiche God hath commaunded vs briefely when we more feare men as princes or leagefellowes or enemies or any other men what so euer they be than our lord God him self And therfore the Lord himselfe in the gospel sayde feare ye not them which kille the body and can not kill the soule c. Matth. 10. The same in an other place sayeth he that denieth me before that aduouterouse generation I will denie him also before my father in heauen

Doubtles it is a fowle shame to feare more a moste wicked manne than moste holy God But men offende in this behalfe at these dayes most greuousely For some attribute so muche to wicked and cruell persecutours that euen for them they will commaunde to peruerte the preachyng of the Gospell or to kepe silence al together There is that will sette more by the Kinge Prince Erle Baron Citezen or plowmā Bishop or Abbot or some flatteryng Frere or vile massemongyng Prieste and will fayne and dissemble for his fauour rather than he will frely confesse the trewth and feare and glorifie God to be feared only Vnto them sayeth Esaye saye ye not conspiracie and be not affrayde of terrour of the enemies nother be you discouraged But rather sanctifie the lord of hostes let him be your terrour let him be your feare He shal be the sanctuarie and stumblyng stone and the reste in the .8 chapt of Esaye For vnlesse we put awaye this vayne and wicked feare and goe about to funisshe vp the Lordes worke valeaūtly constauntly and without feare we shall surely be caste downe to helle Let timorouse menne thinke hereof and calle vpon the Lord and take vnto them the sprete of strength and of wise and godly boldenes and do the worke of the Lord not negligently but dilligently valeauntly and constantely He is greater that is in vs sayeth S. Iohn in his Canonicall thā is he that is in the worlde Vnbeleuers Vnbeleuers are not weake in the fayth modeste fearing God but such as beleue not gods word promising cōmaūding threatening nother follow God nor his Christ but rather follow straunge Gods had rather beleue fables haue withdrawen their hartes from God And of these is there a great multitude at this day which notwithstāding haue al in their mouth that they beleue God his worde but they beleue not the preachers thinking verely that their incredulitie is thus sufficiently excused But where the preachers shewe nothing els but the word of God thei cānot but contēne gods word whilest they dispise the Sermons of the preachers In the thirde place followeth Abominable that the tourmentes of Hell are dewe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the abominable detestable For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth abomination and stench He noteth therfore abominable and detestable men to whom al religion is a mockerie which deride God and his word and blaspheme all holy thinges the children of Beliall vncurable and spurners These although thei knowe the truth yet thei knowe it to their owne condemnation seing thei contemne it knowē and with dogs and hogs returne to their vomite and wallowyng in the myre Whom also the Apostles haue noted Peter in the second epistle the .2 3. cha S. Paule in the .3 to Titus and .12 to the Hebrewes Iudas Thaddeus through out the chefest parte of his epistle S. Ihon himselfe about the end of the .22 chapt reciting in a maner the same register calleth them dogges And would God we wanted examples at this daye of abominable men and such kynde of dogges But there is no cawse why we shoulde maruayle hereat considering that we liue in the time of all other most corrupt of Noe and Loth Mathew the .24 Of Homicides ther be sondry kyndes Murtherers or Homicides For we kil with the hart mouth worke Whereof you may se thexpositours of the .x. cōmaūdemēts chieflie D. Musculus But I thinke the world had neuer a more notable mor cruel and more shameles murderer yea paricide most verely according to the word of Christ in the .8 of Iohn the firste begotten child of the Deuyll than the Bysshoppe of Rome For he in a maner at all times for these fyue hondreth yeares and more hath blowen the trumpet to all the greuouse warres of Europe or Christēdome and agayne hath graunted to murderers especiallie warring for the See of Rome most large ample pardons and promised heauen to them that die in that warfare al the which being many of them excellent men had not the great mercy of God ben he had destroyed bothe body and soule Than S. Ihon raccompteth whoremōgers Whoremongers And he nameth the lowest kynd to the end we shulde vnderstand the higher and vyler as rape adultrie incest and Sodomitical nother that we shoulde exclude here glottonie dronkennes and all kynde of riorousenes and nourryshing of voluptuousenes Where doubteles we see that S. Paule vnder the vocable of whoredome cōprehendeth all filthy lust and riot But in our dayes whorehūting is made so cōmon that euery most shamefull whoremonger is admitted to the aulter a maried priest that kepeth holy matrimonie is expelled from the same For the which we may thanke Syricius and other Popes whom the Apostle hath greuously noted in the first to Timothe 4. Sorcerers Of Sorcerers is spoken in the .9 chap. of this boke S. Ihon hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he meaneth magiciēs inchaūters sothsayers witches and by deuillish craftes loue makers The latin men vnderstand them also that geue poyson to drinke Idolaters Idolaters be worshippers of Idolles And maruayle it is that the Papists at this day deny thēselues to be Idolaters For what other thing is an Idol but a shape or image made of any matter visible representing the fourme of God or a Saincte but without spirite An Idoll therfore is an Image of wood stone or metall representing the shape of God the father of God the sonne or of S. Peter c. Dauid describeth an Idoll sayeth the Idolles of the heythen are siluer and golde euen the worke of mennes handes They haue mouth and speake not eyes haue they and see not c. Psal 113. And I wolde fayne knowe what the Idolles of the Papistes differ from these Concerning worshippinge of them they can not denye but that they worship those Idolles of wood and clay For thei attribute to them holy names and euen the sacred name of God to be cōmunicated to none other saieng this is pointing to stone or wood that is an Idol of wood God the father this is God the son this is S. Peter I tremble in my minde whylest I report these things especially sins the lord himself hath said whom wil ye make me like Esay 40. And S. Paule calleth this plainly coūterfeting folishnes and expresly denieth the godhead to be like a stone artificially polished Ro. 1. Act. 17. Againe these Images which thei call their gods saincts made with mens hands thei bring into the churches namely a place of worshipping and set them vpon the altars vnto these they go on pilgrimage fall downe before them and worship sence them offer oblations to them and hang Iewels on them And moreouer attribute to them also a parte of the heauenly doctrine and instruction sayeng that the vnlearned sort are taught and admonished by these And what is to worship yf this be not Let them se therfore whether thei can herein

chapt sayeth for we be your glory as you shal be oures also in the daye of our Lorde Iesu And agayne in the .1 to the Thess the .2 chapt the same Apostle sayeth for what is our hope ioye or crowne of reioycyng are not you in the sight of our Lorde Iesu Christe at his commyng for you are our glory and ioye Ful wel therefore sayeth Aquinas S. Iohn speaketh after the maner of cōquerours which bryng their spoyles into Cities Therefore he fayneth that Princes preachers and parentes bryng with them into heauen such as they haue wonne whiche to them shal be an honour and glory These thinges alwayes let vs thinke vpon and do our duety inioyned vs of God which we perceyue in the euerlasting countrie to haue so great rewarde For it shal be the greatest glory that maye be to stande with so many wonne in the presence of the eternal God Lābe and al sainctes Contrarywise the greatest shame to stande with so great a multitude of men lost and that loste through our faulte and negligence Reade what thinges are written in the .1 chapt of the boke of wisedome c. In the tenth place followeth the custody of the gates celestiall The gates are not shut in the daye Certenly in greate Cities there is greate and dilligent watching and wardynge hede taken to the gates that they be shutte and opened in dewe time and season But in heauē there shall nede no such carefulnes The reason is The gates are not wonte to be shutte in the day but at night But in the euerlastyng countrie there is no night therfore are the gates neuer shutte There is doubtles no night but continual day There is no treason no Ambusshes or wayte laide no perils or daungers all thing in generall are safe peaceable quiet sicker and sure The same thinges are red also in Esaye but some thing in a diuerse sense Aretas here is a double vnderstandyng sayeth he for eyther he meaneth that there shal be peace and securitie and that so great that it shall not nede to kepe the citie by shuttyng of the gates Or els that there also the godly gates of the Apostolicall doctrine are open for all men vnto their learnyng which haue more perfection c. Certenly they shal nede no teachers nor guides which see al misteries now presently are brought into heauen it self The cleanes of the heauenly ●●tie And especially cleanes in Cities is highly commended if there shewe or appere nothing that offendeth the sighte hearyng and smellyng which is lothsome to loke vpon and to be abhorred And in priuate houses the chiefe prayse is yf all thinges shyne and stande euery thing in order and lie not scattered and stinke Now therefore in the eleuenth place he sheweth that there shal be nothing in heauen that maye offende that is to saye which shall not be pleasaunt and delectable moste cleane and nete absolute and complete The same place also muste be referred to the personnes For it followeth saue they that are written in the lambes boke of life We vnderstande therfore how into the kingdome of heauē shal not enter whoremongers Idolaters liars deceauers what so euer is vncleane and not purged with the bloud of the sonne of God through fayth This same the Apostle affirmeth in the .1 to the Corint the .5 and .6 chapt and to the Ephes the .5 chapt Dauid also demaundeth Lord who shal dwell in thy tabernucle or who shal reste in thy holy hille And aunswereth incontinently he that walketh without spotte and worketh rightuousnes and that which insueth in the .15 Psalm Finally here shal be fulfilled suche thinges as are written in the .23 chapt of Deuter. Touching thē which are prohibited to enter into the church Wherfore this place hath a secret doctrine and priuie admonishment instructyng vs that if we wil or couet to be heyres of the euerlasting coūtrie we should al applie our selues whilest we liue here in Earth to rightuousenes and Innocencie For it shal followe in the .22 chapt For without are dogges and inchaunters and whoremongers c. The Lord bryng vs by the waye of rightuousenes vnto life euerlastyng ¶ He continueth yet in describyng the blessed seates The .xcvi. Sermon AND he shewed me a pure riuer of water of life cleare as Chrystall The .22 chapt proceding out of the seate of God and of the Lambe In the middes of the strete of it of eyther side of the riuer was there wood of life whiche bare twelue maner of fruictes gaue fruicte euery moneth the leaues of the wood serued to heale the people withal And ther shal be nomore curse but the seate of God and the lambe shal be in it and his seruauntes shall serue him And they shal see his face and his name shal be in their foreheades And there shal be no night there and they nede no candle nor light of Sunne for the lorde God geueth them light and they shall raygne for euermore In the twelfth place is described of Iohn the pleasauntnes The pleasauntenes of the citie of God trymnes the plentuousenes and aboūdance of foode in the Citie of God Riuers make cities pleasaunt and delectable Without fountaynes sprynges and holesome waters cities decaye and are scarsely worthy the names of Cities But in case they waunte victualles they are wholy loste Therefore this our heauēly Citie excelleth and is most noble in al these thinges nother hath it vitayle only but geueth the same vnto vs with greate pleasure and finesse moste pleasaunt For trees in this Citie doe not only beare fruicte but geue also a pleasaūtnes vnspeakable inestimable The riuer moreouer runneth through the middes of the stretes on the bankes of eyther side are trees moste beautiful to beholde bearing the fruictes of life And as I haue many times in this description intimated so I repete now the same againe that those things are not to be vnderstande after the letter as the Millenaries take them For the Lord talketh with vs and euen lispeth to the ende we might after the imbecillitie of our witte cōceaue these thinges Yf any shuld wisshe for earthly things I wene he could couet no greater thinges thā be here described We shall thinke therefore if the Lorde coulde geue these earthly thinges yf he woulde whie can he not geue greater to the soules of the godly and bodies glorified yea the Lorde will that beyng withdrawen from the contemplation of earthly thinges we shoulde loke altogether for celestiall and diuine worthie of blessed soules and bodies clarified Whiche verely howe greate and what they shall be no tunge of manne can expresse to vs be it neuer so eloquente For the Lord hath prepared greater thinges for his seruauntes than here we can comprehende Therefore he bringeth forth here matter● moste ample that after a certen maner we mightie conceaue heauenly thinges muche more excellent than they be Therfore the sense and meanyng of all those